Jim Dearing to serve on EPA National Advisory Council

December 10, 2018

James Dearing, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Communication, has accepted an invitation to serve as a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology.

The EPA Council advises the agency Administrator about a range of issues and issues reports to the EPA. “This will be a way to bring a social science perspective to EPA deliberations,” said Dearing. “Applications of diffusion of innovation theory and scale up strategies can help the EPA to accelerate the adoption of community-level adaptation and mitigation policies and practices in response to climate change.”

The EPA established the Council in 1988 to provide independent expert advice to the EPA Administrator. Council members are invited from business, academia, nongovernmental organizations and state, tribal and local governments. Andrew R. Wheeler is the current EPA Acting Administrator. The Council meets several times annually.

Dearing has led three research grants from the U.S. EPA, has served in advisory roles for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was Scientific Advisor for the NIH Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation. From 2005-2010 he was a member of the Framework Committee of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine Review of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.