Eugene A. Rosa
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Eugene A. Rosa is currently the Boeing Distinguished Professor of Environmental Sociology, the Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy in the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, past Chair and Professor of Sociology, Affiliated Professor of Fine Arts, Faculty Associate in the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, andFaculty Associate, Energy Systems Innovation Center,(WSU). Dr. Rosa received his B.S. with high honors (1967) from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York. His M.A. (1975) and Ph.D. (1976) in social science are from the Maxwell Graduate School of Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. He then completed postgraduate work in neurosciences and in energy studies at Stanford University where he also served as a research associate and instructor. In 1978, Dr. Rosa joined the faculty of Washington State University as an assistant professor and coordinator of the Public Opinion Laboratory.
His research program has focused on environmental topics—particularly energy, technology, and risk issues—with attention to both theoretical and policy concerns. He has investigated the relationship between levels of energy consumption and societal well-being, public opinion about energy problems and policies, factors affecting the adoption of solar energy technologies and conservation practices, and public attitudes toward and acceptance of nuclear power and nuclear policies. Most recently his research is focused on two complementary topics: technological risk and global environmental change. The principal activity associated with the first topic includes a range of topics, from the epistemology of risk, to public acceptability of nuclear power, to concerns about the long-term stewardship of toxic and radioactive wastes. In addition he teaches and is writing about the "Risk Society." The principal activities associated with the second topic are research devoted to specifying the anthropogenic (human-induced) causes of carbon dioxide (CO2) loads and ecological footprints, to the historical relationships between greenhouse gases and societal well-being, and history of social thought on climate, and testing theories of environmental impact. He currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Global Environmental Change.
He is widely published, including articles in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]], AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, American Sociological Review, Social Forces, American Journal of Sociology, Ecological Economics, Journal of Industrial Ecology, International Sociology, Journal of Risk Research, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Risk Analysis, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Annual Review of Sociology, Sociological Symposium, Contemporary Sociology, and Society & Natural Resources, Physics and Society, Social Science Quarterly as well as numerous encyclopedia articles and technical reports. A collection of his recent co-authored articles won the 2002-04 Outstanding Publication Award of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association. His co-edited books, Public Reactions to Nuclear Power: Are There Critical Masses? and Public Reactions to Nuclear Waste: Citizens' Views of Repository Siting have been acclaimed by both academics and policymakers. His co-authored book Risk, Uncertainty, and Rational Action won the 2000-2002 Outstanding Publication Award of the Section on Environment and Technology of the American Sociological Association.
During 1983-84, Dr. Rosa served as a visiting scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory investigating the relationship between human factors and nuclear safety, including the implementation of a computer-assisted methodology for organizing expert judgment of human errors. He has been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. In addition to a consultancy with Brookhaven, he has also consulted with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Bonneville Power Administration, the London School of Economics, the University of Budapest, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Center of Technology Assessment in Baden-Württemburg. He was twice appointed by Governor Booth Gardner to the Washington State Nuclear Waste Advisory Council.
Dr. Rosa is a past editor of Environmental Sociology and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Journal of Risk Research, Organization and Environment, the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, and has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Sociology, the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Advances in Human Ecology, Human Ecology Review, Journal of Human Ecology, Evaluation Review, and Society and Natural Resources. He is a member of a variety of professional organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Sociological Association, The Society for Human Ecology, Society for Social Studies of Science, and the Society for Risk Analysis. In addition, he is a founding member of the Board and past Treasurer of the Research Committee on Environment and Society of the International Sociological Association. He served as Secretary and as Chair of Section K of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His honors include his election, 2003, as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the 1999 "Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociology of the Environment and Technology" by the Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association and elections to the Sociological Research Association, and Sigma Xi and listings in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in the West, Who's Who in Education, American Men and Women of Science, Men of Achievement, The International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, Lexington's Who's Who, Directory of American Scholars, Men and Women of Distinction, and The Dictionary of International Biography.
E-mail: Eugene A. Rosa
