Skip to content
CSDE Research Affiliate

Ann Bostrom

Professor, Public Policy & Governance/Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor in Environmental Policy
University of Washington
Tel: 206-685-8198

CSDE Committees: Executive Committee Member

CSDE Research Areas:

  • Demographic Measurements and Methods
  • Environments and Populations

In the News:

Ann Bostrom joined the Evans School faculty in 2007. Her research focuses on risk perception, communication, and management; and environmental policy and decision-making. Bostrom previously served on the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) from 1992-2007, where she served as Associate Dean for Research at the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and Professor in the School of Public Policy. Bostrom co-directed the Decision Risk and Management Science Program at the National Science Foundation from 1999-2001. While in this position she organized, participated in, and made presentations at national and international meetings on research and science policy, including but not limited to, the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction and the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. She has authored or contributed to numerous publications, including Risk Communication: A Mental Models Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Risk Assessment, Modeling and Decision Support: Strategic Directions (Berlin: Springer, 2008), and National Research Council, Institute of Medicine, U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board, and U.S. EPA Board of Scientific Counselors reports. She also serves on the editorial board for Risk Analysis and as Associate or Risk Communication Area Editor for the journals  Journal of Risk Research, and Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, and reviews for numerous technical journals. Bostrom has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Institutes of Health, among other sources. Bostrom is the recipient of several fellowships, including the American Statistical Association/ National Science Foundation/Bureau of Labor Statistics Research Associateship (1991-92), Fulbright Graduate Research Fellowship and Lois Roth Endowment Fund grant for studies at the University of Stockholm (1989-90), and Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon (1988-89). She is also the recipient of the 1997 Chauncey Starr award for a young risk analyst from the Society for Risk Analysis for her work on mental models of hazardous processes. Bostrom is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Bostrom is currently a member of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Scientific Committee, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Science Advisory Board Environmental Information Services Working Group, and the National Research Council Committee to Review the IRIS process. She is the past president of the Society for Risk Analysis, and is a member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the Society for Judgment and Decision-Making, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Bostrom holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from Carnegie Mellon University, an MBA from Western Washington University, a BA in English from the University of Washington, and completed postdoctoral studies in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and in cognitive aspects of survey methodology at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.