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Faculty & Staff Directory

K. L. Akerlof

  • Associate Professor
  • Science Communication for Policy, Public Participation, Evidence-based Policymaking

    Contact Info

    K. L. Akerlof
    Name
    K. L. Akerlof
    Job Title
    Associate Professor
    Science Communication for Policy, Public Participation, Evidence-based Policymaking
    Website
    klakerlof.org
    Office Number
    Exploratory Hall, Room 3103, MSN 5F2

    Affiliations

    Research Areas

    • Environmental Science and Policy
    • Science Communication
    • Applied Science

    Education

    PhD, Environmental Science & Public Policy, George Mason University (2012)
    MS, Environmental Science & Policy, George Mason University (2009)
    BA, Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1991)

    About

    Communication processes lie at the heart of the creation, transfer, and use of scientific knowledge for policy. They can span boundaries between scientists and decision-makers, help achieve democratic goals for governance through public outreach and participation, and support the use of evidence in designing public-facing government programs.

    I am an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, where my work sits at the intersection between science communication and governance. I serve on the leadership of the Science Policy Collaborative, as associate editor of Evidence & Policy, and on the governing board of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA). Before joining the faculty, I was an AGU/AAAS Congressional Science Fellow in the U.S. Senate and a visiting scholar at AAAS.

    Current Research

    My research explores three areas: (1) communication of science with policymakers, or “science advice”; (2) public participation in decision-making on scientific issues; and (3) the use of social science for evidence-based policymaking within government programs.

    Current Projects

    • Training researchers to communicate science for policy. With support from the Rita Allen Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, I am working with a team of colleagues to develop and evaluate a theoretically grounded model for preparing researchers to engage with policymakers around the world, framed as a key dimension of civic science. This work accompanies a forthcoming Routledge textbook, Communicating Science for Policy: A Guide for Engaging Decision-Makers.
    • Supporting capacity-building for science policy training programs. An initial project funded by 4VA has developed into a national effort to support U.S. science policy programs with tools and resources through the Science Policy Collaborative.
    • The Civic Openness, Reasoning, and Engagement (CORE) Incubator (U.S. Department of Education, 2026–2029). I am a co-investigator on this multi-institution effort to strengthen civic reasoning and engagement.
    • Evidence use in legislatures. Building on prior NSF and Institute for Digital InnovAtion support, I study how legislatures access and use scientific evidence, including natural language processing methods to detect evidence citation in the U.S. Congress.

    Teaching Focus

    Over the past few decades, the rate of information generation has increased exponentially due to the unprecedented development and adoption of computing and networking technologies. What we know today isn’t the same as yesterday; if it is, it may fall into the category of what “just ain’t so.” In an information society, memorization of static bodies of knowledge becomes less important than the ability to understand how to find—or generate—information, analyze it, and use it to inform decisions. Regardless of the course topic, I seek to help students become adept learners in a shifting information environment, as these are skills they will need throughout their lives.

    Courses:

    • Communicating Science for Policy (EVPP 429/529)
    • Evidence-based Environmental Policymaking (EVPP 530)
    • Tackling Wicked Problems (under redesign) (EVPP 336)

    Selected Publications

    • Akerlof, K. L., Tyler, C., Canino, H., Allegra, A., & Tan, W. H. (Eds.) (forthcoming 2026). Communicating science for policy: A guide for engaging decision-makers. Routledge.
    • Oliver, K., Malin, J., Akerlof, K. L., et al. (2026). What factors influence evidence use in policy? An updated systematic map. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
    • Tyler, C., Akerlof, K. L., Al-Gharbi, M., Bedsted, B., Boeira, L., Brown, T., ... & Pedersen, D. B. (2026). Six ways to put the public at the heart of science and policy. Nature, 655(8121), 34-37.
    • Akerlof, K. L., Schenk, T., Mitchell, K., et al. (2025). Learning outcomes and evaluation metrics for training researchers to engage in science policy. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1).
    • Akerlof, K. L., Schenk, T., Bankston, A., et al. (2025). Training researchers to engage in policy in the U.S.: Mapping the growth and diversity of program models. Evidence & Policy.
    • Akerlof, K. L., Lemos, M. C., Cloyd, E. T., Heath, E., Nelson, S., Hathaway, J., & Timm, K. M. F. (2024). Science communication in Congress: For what use? Evidence & Policy, 20(3), 300–319.
    • Tyler, C., Akerlof, K. L., Allegra, A., et al. (2023). AI tools as science policy advisers? The potential and the pitfalls. Nature, 622(7981), 27–30.
    • Akerlof, K. L., Timm, K. M. F., Chase, A., et al. (2023). What does equitable co-production entail? Three perspectives. Community Science, 2(2), e2022CSJ000021.
    • Akerlof, K., Tyler, C., Allegra, A., Webler, T., Heath, E., Cloyd, E., & Washbourne, C. L. (2022). Global perspectives on scientists’ roles in legislative policymaking. Policy Sciences, 55(2), 351–367.
    • Akerlof, K. L. (2022). Beyond the sheltering academic silo: Norms for scientists’ participation in policy. In T. Bolsen & R. Palm (Eds.), Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science. Academic Press.

    Awards

    • 2025: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (Section Y, General Interest in Science & Engineering)
    • 2021: 3rd Place, Top Faculty Paper, Communicating Science, Health, Environment and Risk (ComSHER) Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
    • 2016–2017: AGU/AAAS Congressional Science Fellow, U.S. Senate

    Contact Info

    K. L. Akerlof
    Name
    K. L. Akerlof
    Job Title
    Associate Professor
    Science Communication for Policy, Public Participation, Evidence-based Policymaking
    Website
    klakerlof.org
    Office Number
    Exploratory Hall, Room 3103, MSN 5F2

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