Julie Downs

Social & Decision Sciences Carnegie Mellon University Baker/Porter Hall 219D 412/268-6938 downs @ andrew.cmu.edu

Julie S. Downs, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Risk Perception and Communication in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon. She received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton University and her B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has given invited addresses to a number of distinguished audiences, including the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Executive and numerous academic audiences. Her research has been published in psychological, public policy and medical journals.
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"My research looks at how social and contextual influences affect decision-making and how people can make better decisions by understanding the nature of these influences. Attention to these factors is critical if technological solutions to improving quality of life are to succeed in both meeting people's needs and being adopted."