Anthony Leiserowitz, a trailblazing scientist whose research helped establish the field of climate change communication, was recently appointed the JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication, effective immediately.
Leiserowitz, a research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE) since 2007, is also the founding director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) and the host of Climate Connections, a radio program broadcast each day on more than 750 stations nationwide.
Anthony Leiserowitz
JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication
Director, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
He is inaugural The JoshAni-TomKat Professor, a new professorship dedicated to advancing climate communications.
Leiserowitz 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 in the United States, China, India, Brazil, Ireland, Indonesia, and globally in 192 countries and territories.
His groundbreaking work has revealed the diversity of public opinion on climate change, including the influential “Climate Change in the American Mind” surveys conducted twice a year since 2008, in partnership with the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. These studies have investigated a wide range of topics, from the role of cognition, emotion, and values in risk perception and behavior to studies of mass media effects, climate communication by political elites, impacts of extreme weather, climate justice, and climate anxiety. Major products include the “Global Warming’s Six Americas” framework and the Yale Climate Opinion Maps, which are used by scientists, educators, policymakers, journalists, companies, and NGOs to better understand and engage their own respective audiences.
Leiserowitz has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, with more than 41,000 citations and an h-index of 95 (Google Scholar), along with more than 200 chapters and public reports. He has worked with or advised the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, National Academy of Sciences, White House, U.S. State Department, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the UN, Gallup World Poll, and the World Economic Forum, among many others.
Leiserowitz 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.
Leiserowitz has also demonstrated an extraordinary record of grantsmanship. Since 2007, he has secured 97 external grants as principal investigator (PI). Supporters of his work include the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as the Grantham Foundation, Schmidt Family Foundation, Energy Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, and the Bezos Earth Fund.
At Yale, Leiserowitz has also taught popular courses, including “Strategic Environmental Communication,” mentored postdoctoral fellows, and advised graduate and undergraduate students, fostering the next generation of climate communication leaders and researchers. He has also provided trainings in strategic climate communication as well as invited lectures and presentations worldwide.
Leiserowitz earned a Ph.D., in Environmental Science, Studies, and Policy and a M.S. in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon, and a B.A., in International Relations, at Michigan State University.
