Kirstin Dow Named Among First Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellows at AAAS

Fellows to focus on climate change issues in first year of program

Kirstin Dow, a University of South Carolina geography professor and former AAG National Councillor, has been named an inaugural fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Leshner Leadership Institute.

All members in this first cohort of 15 fellows are climate scientists with an interest in promoting dialogue between science and society.

“AAAS is encouraged by the interest in this new Public Engagement Fellowship opportunity. The 15 Fellows selected, and the many others who applied, demonstrate clear commitment in the climate science community to engage the public on this critical issue,” said Tiffany Lohwater, Director of Meetings and Public Engagement at AAAS. “The fellowship program is focusing on climate with its first scientist cohort, building on the long-standing commitment of AAAS to science communication and public engagement.”

Leshner Fellows will spend a week in Washington, DC, during June at the AAAS headquarters to focus on “public engagement and science communication training, networking and plan development.”

According to a statement from the University of South Carolina, “Dow is principal investigator of the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, an interdisciplinary research team that bridges climate science and decision-making. She has also engaged public concerns as a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment, Working Group 2 report and author on the U.S. National Climate Assessment (2014).”