Sarah Gonzalez-Coffin

Sarah Gonzalez-Coffin, PhD, is an interdisciplinary social scientist with expertise in machine learning, technology adoption, policy support, public engagement, climate change communication, and environmental psychology. 

Before joining the Lovejoy Center, Sarah worked in non-profit, government, and academic sectors. Sarah's early research career began by studying the human dimensions of ocean conservation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, and California State University, Monterey Bay. She then worked as a data analyst in the San Francisco Bay Area in the non-profit sector for three years. 

Sarah earned her MA and PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she worked with the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to study rural adaptation and public support for sustainability technologies, including carbon dioxide removal methods, residential building upgrades, alternative proteins, renewable energy, and transmission infrastructure. She has given over 30 research presentations and invited talks, published in peer-reviewed journals, and co-authored technical reports to the United States Department of Energy and U.S. Grid Deployment Office. 

As a Tom Lovejoy Conservation Fellow, Sarah is mentored by Dr. Aaron Lien (Rangeland Ecology and Adaptive Management) and Dr. Cristian Román (College of Information Science).