Ann Bostrom
Professor

Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, Public Policy Analysis
M.B.A., Western Washington University
B.A., University of Washington, English (creative writing)
Curriculum Vitae

nn Bostrom received her BA from the University of Washington in creative writing, an MBA from Western Washington University, and a PhD in Public Policy Analysis from Carnegie Mellon University. She also studied at the University of Stockholm on a Fulbright Scholarship and Lois Roth endowment award (1989-1990). She completed postdoctoral studies in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon, and in cognitive aspects of survey methodology as an American Statistical Association/National Science Foundation/Bureau of Labor Statistics research associate, before coming to Georgia Tech as an assistant professor in 1992. Dr. Bostrom is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy where she teaches qualitative and quantitative research methods, environmental policy, and risk perception, communication and management. She has also served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development in the Ivan Allen College since January 2004. Her research focuses on mental models of hazardous processes (how people understand and make decisions about risks), and is currently funded by the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the areas of air pollution, children’s environmental health, and seismic risk. She has published in journals such as Risk Analysis, the Journal of Social Issues, and the American Journal of Public Health, and co-authored Risk Communication: A Mental Models Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2001), with M. Granger Morgan, Baruch Fischhoff, and Cynthia J. Atman.

Dr. Bostrom served as program director for the Decision Risk and Management Science Program at the National Science Foundation from 1999-2001. She is a Councilor of the Society for Risk Analysis, and received its Chauncey Starr award for a young risk analyst in 1997. She is currently a member of the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board Committee on ‘Valuing the Protection of Ecosystems and Ecoservices’ and has consulted for the National Research Council, the Transportation Research Board, and other organizations on risk communication. She is on the editorial boards of Risk Analysis and the Journal of Risk Research..