Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Ribbon: What Is The Precautionary Principle? How Is It Taking Shape Nationally and Globally?
The Ribbon: What Is The Precautionary Principle? How Is It Taking Shape Nationally and Globally?
Your appointment
in the Department of
Communication at Cornell is a
return to Cornell for you; what
did you focus on as a graduate
student here, and how have your
interests evolved?
My current research interests are
very similar to those I had as a
doctoral student here at Cornell.
This is one of the reasons why
returning to Cornell is so exciting
for me: many people share similar
interests, adding to the intellectually
stimulating environment. Broadly
stated, my research focuses on
science, environmental, and risk
communication. Within this context,
Im particularly interested in public
participation and community
involvement in discussions,
planning, or decision making about
health or environmental risks. Much
of my research, in turn, examines
the use of public meetings for risk
communication and public participa-
tion. My research questions and
hypotheses center around issues of
trust, credibility, satisfaction, and
willingness to engage again in
community activities. Im also
interested in what it means to be
successful in public participation,
from the view of organizers as well
as participants.
In your research on
public participation in the
investigation of cancer clusters,
what can you tell us about the
positive aspects of these activities;
in other words, what is to be
gained from this process and
why is it valuable?
One of the factors that makes people
more concerned about risk is when
they perceive a lack of control or an
inability to do anything to reduce
their exposure to the risk. Engaging
people in the investigation can help
with feelings of powerlessness. This
is especially true when people view
their participation as fair and mean-
ingful, as opposed to merely sym-
bolic. In turn, there is a lot of lay
expertise that people can contribute
to investigations that can make the
results more valid and reliable.