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We extend our work to a range of settings outside academia in the United States, in other countries, and at the international level. Faculty members have offered their expertise to environmental and health communication programs in museums and other settings; resource management initiatives for fisheries, water quality, and forestry; energy efficiency projects; and directorates of multilateral environmental agreements.
For Example:
Dr. Bill Hallman is the co-chair of the National Academies of Science Climate Communications Initiative that works to coordinate efforts across the National Academies to facilitate rapid and effective communication of evidence-based insights to an attentive public and critical decision makers.
Dr. Cara Cuite has applied her research on campus food insecurity to convene New Jersey school administrators with policymakers, students, staff, and faculty to discuss and envision a hunger free college experience in New Jersey. She has more recently worked a design professor whose work engages marginalized communities in self-advocacy to team up with staff and students from Hudson County Community College (HCCC) to promote New Jersey’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The ongoing project created a print and digital publication featuring HCCC student art and anonymous testimonies and 15-foot decals displayed on the windows of the college’s library in Jersey City, with the aim of decreasing the stigma and hesitancy around obtaining food benefits.
Dr. Pam McElwee is currently co-chairing to major report multi-year international scientific assessments for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). She is one of three co-chairs to lead the IPBES assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health – coined the ‘Nexus Assessment’. She is also co-chair of the IPBES assessment of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, the determinants of transformative change, and options for achieving the 2050 vision for biodiversity – coined the ‘Transformative Change Assessment’.
Dr. Cymie Payne chairs the Ocean Law Specialist Group of the World Commission on Environmental Law, an expert commission advising the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She served as a delegate at the treaty negotiations for the IUCN.
Dr. Dan Van Abs is a Governor’s appointee to the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, a state agency responsible for the development and implementation of the Highlands Regional Master Plan. In 2022-2023 he has provided leadership and expertise to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection in the update of the New Jersey Water Supply plan. Dan is also closely involved with Jersey Water Works, a statewide collaborative for the improvement of water supply, wastewater, and stormwater management systems.
Dr. Rachael Shwom is a committee member on the the National Academies Advisory Board to the U.S. Global Change Research Program that advise to the U.S. government on its global change research funding structure and focus. She has also served as a co-author on the National Climate Assessments Chapter on Social Systems and Climate.