Sarah Gonzalez-Coffin

Sarah Gonzalez-Coffin, PhD, is an interdisciplinary social scientist with expertise in environmental psychology, climate change communication, technology adoption, policy support, public engagement, GIS and machine learning. Her research focuses on solutions to complex social and environmental problems. 

Sarah's early research career began by studying the human dimensions of ocean conservation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and California State University, Monterey Bay. Sarah went on to earn her MA and PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studied rural adaptation and public support for sustainability technologies, including carbon dioxide removal methods, residential building upgrades, alternative proteins, renewable energy and transmission infrastructure with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center. 

As a recipient of the Tom Lovejoy Conservation Fellowship, Sarah’s postdoctoral research now focuses on leveraging machine learning and GIS to inform data-driven adaptation. She is mentored by Dr. Aaron Lien (School of Natural Resources and the Environment) and Dr. Cristian Román-Palacios (College of Information Science).