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Anthony Leiserowitz

JoshAni - TomKat Professor of Climate Communication; Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)

Contact

anthony.leiserowitz@yale.edu

203-432-1208

YSE Faculty

Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD is the JoshAni – TomKat Professor of Climate Communication and founding Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. He is an internationally recognized expert on public climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support, and behavior, and the psychological, cultural, and political factors that shape them. He conducts research worldwide, including in the United States, China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Ireland. He has published more than 400 scientific articles, chapters, and reports and has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Harvard Kennedy School, the United Nations Development Program, the Gallup World Poll, and the World Economic Forum, among others. He is a recipient of the Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education, the Mitofsky Innovator Award from the American Association of Public Opinion Research, the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication from Climate One, and an Environmental Innovator award from the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2020, he was named the second-most influential climate scientist in the world (of 1,000) by Reuters. He is also the host of Climate Connections, a radio program broadcast each day on more than 750 frequencies nationwide.

Profile Article: The Climate of Climate Change is Shifting (2023) Canopy.

For Prospective Students

For students interested in a doctoral degree:

I only consider doctoral student applicants that have a strong background in climate change or environmental communication, and quantitative survey, experimental, social network, computational, or other related research methods.

For students interested in a masters degree:

I advise masters students focused on climate or environmental perceptions and communication.

Additionally, there are opportunities for Yale doctoral students, masters students and undergraduates to work as research assistants with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. If you are admitted to Yale and would like to know more about these opportunities, please contact Lisa Fernandez, our Managing Director, for more information.

This professor is accepting doctoral students

I am a geographer trained in the cognitive and social psychology of risk perception and decision making. My research is strongly interdisciplinary and seeks to understand the psychological, cultural, political, and geographic factors that shape human environmental perception, decision making and behavior.

Much of my research examines how human decision makers (individuals, groups and societies) perceive climate change risks, what mitigation and adaptation policies they support or oppose, and what actions they have or are willing to take to address this risk. Current projects include:

a) Climate Change in the American Mind We conduct twice-a-year national surveys of Americans’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy support, and behavior and publish widely circulated and cited reports and scientific papers on the findings.

b) Global Warming's Six Americas. We have identified, analyzed and described six unique publics in the U.S. that respond to climate change in very different ways: the Alarmed, Concerned, Cautious, Disengaged, Doubtful, and Dismissive.

c) Yale Climate Opinion Maps. We have built, validated, and released a statistical model that "downscales" our national survey results and accurately estimates key indicators of public understanding and policy support in all 50 states, 435 Congressional districts, 3,000+ counties, and individual cities across the nation.

d) International Attitudes & Behavior. We have conducted studies in collaboration with researchers in China, India, Brazil, Ireland, Canada, the UK, the Gallup World Poll, and an annual global survey conducted in 192 countries and territories in partnership with Meta Data for Good.

e) Yale Climate Connections. Yale Climate Connections is a nonpartisan, multimedia news service providing twice-daily broadcasts on more than 750 radio stations and frequencies nationwide, and original online reporting, commentary, and analysis on the issue of climate change, one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.

Education

Ph.D. and M.S. University of Oregon
B.A. Michigan State University

Areas of Expertise