Natalie Bennett

Natalie is a PhD Candidate in the Environmental Studies Department at CU Boulder.  Broadly, her work explores how people make decisions and take action to adapt to climate change risks and impacts. She is especially interested in the role of social and behavioral factors in climate change risk management and adaptation. She employs both qualitative and quantitative methods and draws from research in decision science, risk and natural hazards, climate change adaptation, and social psychology. Much of her current work focuses on wildfire risk in the American West, addressing the need for at-risk communities to live safely with fire while also adapting to changing fire regimes and heightened risks.

Natalie prioritizes community-based and usable science in partnership with local communities and stakeholders. In graduate school, she has co-produced research in partnership with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, Boulder Fire-Rescue, the U.S. National Park Service Climate Change Response Program, and the wildfire technology startup FireAside. Learn more about Natalie’s research with these partners here.

Before entering graduate school, Natalie worked in climate adaptation and vulnerability planning, science communication, and community science for the nonprofit sector, Federal government, and an environmental consulting firm. Natalie holds a BS in Environmental Biology from Colgate University and an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder.