Lucy Atkinson

Dr. Lucy Atkinson is an Associate Professor at the Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, specializing in environmental communication, sustainability, and climate change. Her interdisciplinary research bridges mass communication, political science, environmental studies, psychology, and sociology, with a focus on how communication strategies influence public attitudes, behaviors, and equity in sustainability efforts.

• Expert in AI, virtual reality, and social media applications for climate and health communication
• Recipient of $8M+ in grants from NSF, Department of Energy, and Merck/Meta
• Editorial board member: Environmental Communication, Science Communication

Her research employs mixed methods (experiments, surveys, NLP, generative AI, interviews) to address issues like environmental justice, vaccine hesitancy, and CO2 storage acceptance. She teaches courses on advertising history, environmental communication, and consumer psychology, and has been recognized with awards including the Regents Outstanding Teacher Award and Provost Teaching Fellow.