BLOOMINGTON, In. - Shahzeen Attari has been named by Science News as one of 10 early- and mid-career scientists on their way to widespread acclaim for tackling big questions facing science and society.
Attari is an associate professor at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) and an expert on human behavior and resource use. Her current research focuses on motivating climate action by fusing facts and feelings as well as understanding and correcting misperceptions of energy use.
“I’m grateful for this honor and to learn more about the work of the other scientists in the SN 10 class,” Attari said. “I’m hopeful it will result in a greater interest and focus on finding answers to the key question I study – how do we get people to take the actions necessary to limit and reverse the impact of climate change.”
Attari has been a member of SPEA's faculty since 2011. She and her lab work on a range of research topics that span perceptions, motivations, and biases of how people understand complex systems and use natural resources.
Her work has strong links to both cognitive science and environmental science and has been published in top journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Her research has also been summarized in a variety of venues, including the New York Times, The Economist, and BBC.
Attari was named a 2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellow and recently completed a fellowship with the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
“Each year, I am more and more impressed by the scientists who are selected to this prestigious list,” said Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and publisher of Science News. “These scientists are making an enormous impact. I congratulate all the members of the SN 10 class of 2018.”
Each scientist included in the SN 10 was nominated by a Nobel laureate or recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. All are age 40 or under, and were selected by Science News staff for their potential to shape the science of the future.
In addition to Attari, the other Science News 10 include:
- Emily Balskus, Harvard University
- Ibrahim Cissé, MIT
- Christopher Hamilton, University of Arizona
- Paula Jofré, University of San Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile
- Douglas Stanford, Institute for Advanced Study and Stanford University
- Lisa Manning, Syracuse University
- Joaquín Rodriguez-López, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Anshumali Shrivastava, Rice University
- Jenny Tung, Duke University
Nancy Shute, editor-in-chief of Science News, added, “It’s not surprising that members of the SN 10 class of 2018 are looking to other disciplines to find solutions to some of our world’s grandest challenges. Today’s best scientists understand that they need to think beyond boundaries and what has been done before. There’s a fearlessness and drive that made these researchers stand out.”