Faith Kearns
Faith Kearns is a scientist who writes about water, climate change, the environment, and people. In addition, she works to increase the relational capacity of the science community, with a focus on how practices such as conflict tolerance, self reflection, and contemplation can help scientists inside and outside academia to engage effectively and build relationships with themselves, each other, and communities. Her work has evolved from her 20+ years spent as a scientist and science communication practitioner, where she has learned that the ability to listen deeply and work with conflict are make-or-break skills.
Faith earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental science, geology, and political science from Northern Arizona University and her doctoral degree from the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, where she focused on urban freshwater ecosystems, landscape ecology, and web-based citizen science tools for natural resource management. She has developed science communication projects at the Ecological Society of America, served as a AAAS Science and Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, managed a wildfire research and outreach center at UC Berkeley, and worked to bridge science and policy with innovative research and outreach projects as part of the environmental science program of the Pew Charitable Trusts. She currently does science engagement work with the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources California Institute for Water Resources.