Environmental Studies

Joanna Huxster

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies

Degrees

• Ph. D., University of Delaware, Marine Studies and Policy, 2013
• B.A., University of Delaware, Geography, 2008

Research Interests

My research interests include public understanding and communication of environmental issues, climate change, and science. My current work focuses on public understanding of the social structure of science and how that understanding relates to trust in scientific consensus for politically divisive scientific issues like climate change. I also study and test effective communication techniques for increasing public understanding of science and inspiring action on environmental issues.

I teach Introduction to Environmental Studies, Environmental Communication, and Climate Change Communication.

Areas of Expertise/Research Focus

Public understanding of climate change, public understanding of science, climate change communication, environmental communication, environmental attitudes and behaviors, environmental education

Professional Experience

• Eckerd College – Environmental Studies: St. Petersburg, FL
  Fall 2017 – Present: Assistant Professor
  Bucknell University – Production of Public Understanding of Science, Philosophy Department: Lewisburg, PA
  Fall 2015 – Summer 2017: Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow
• St. Joseph’s University – Environmental Science, Philadelphia, PA
  Spring 2014 – Spring 2015: Adjunct Faculty
• Drexel Univesity – Department of Sociology: Philadelphia, PA
  Fall 2013 – Spring 2015: Visiting Research Professor
• University of Delaware – College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment: Newark, DE
  2009 – 2012: Research Assistant, Center for Carbon-Free Power

Peer-reviewed Publications

• Slater, Matthew H., Joanna K. Huxster, and Julia Bresticker* (2019) “Understanding and Trusting Science” Journal for General Philosophy of Science. Accepted January 28, 2019
• Slater, Matthew H., Joanna K. Huxster, Julia Bresticker*, and Victor LoPiccolo* (2018) “Denialism as Applied Skepticism” Erkenntnis. First Online August 20, 2018
• Huxster, Joanna K., Matthew Slater, Jason Leddington, Jeffrey Bergman*, Mack Jones*, Victor LoPiccolo*, Caroline McGlynn*, Nicolas Diaz*, Nate Aspinall*, Julia Bresticker*, and Melissa Hopkins* (2017) “Understanding ‘Understanding’ in Public Understanding of Science” Public Understanding of Science. First Online October 23, 2017
• Huxster, Joanna K., Melissa Hopkins*, Julia Bresticker*, Matthew Slater, and Jason Leddington (2017) “Attempts to Prime Intellectual Virtues for Understanding of Science: Failures to Inspire Intellectual Effort” Philosophical Psychology 30:8, 1141-1158. First Online September 4, 2017
• Carmichael, Jason, Robert Brulle, and Joanna Huxster (2017) “The great divide: understanding the role of media and other drivers of the partisan divide in public concern over climate change in the USA, 2001–2014” Climatic Change. 140. First Online: January 31, 2017
• Forster, B.M., C. Arango Pinedo, J. Fingerut, C. Fritz, J. Huxster, C. Violin (2016) “Integration of Graphing Activities in Non-Science Major Environmental Science and Nursing Microbiology Lab Courses.” Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education. 17(3): 501.
• Huxster, Joanna K., Ximena Uribe-Zarain and Willett Kempton (2015) “Undergraduate Understanding of Climate Change: Influences of college major and environmental group membership on survey knowledge scores” The Journal of Environmental Education. 463(3): 149-165
• Huxster, Joanna K., Jason Carmichael and Robert Brulle (2014) “A macro political examination of the partisan and ideological divide in aggregate public concern over climate change in the U.S., 2001-2013” Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. 4(1):1-10