Dr. Robyn S. Wilson is the Professor of Risk Analysis and Decision Science in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. She is an author on over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, and book chapters. Since beginning her academic career at Ohio State in 2007, her work has focused primarily on the interplay between intuitive and analytic information processing and the influence this has on risk perception and ultimately judgment or choice behavior. She is also interested in the development of risk communication and decision support tools to inform decision making and risk management. Her current research focus is on adaptation to climate-exacerbated hazards (e.g., wildfire, eutrophication), and what motivates and constrains different land use and land management decisions on private and public lands.
Dr. Wilson is very active as a leader on campus and in her professional organizations as demonstrated by her service on several committees and advisory boards related to behavioral decision-making and environmental science. She previously served on the Ohio State Sustainability Institute Faculty Advisory Board and the President and Provost’s Council for Sustainability, both of which advise University administration on issues related to the environment and sustainability. She is also on the faculty advisory board for the Environmental and Social Sustainability Lab and a member of the Decision Sciences Collaborative. She is a past President of the Society for Risk Analysis and current member of the US EPA Board of Scientific Counselors Social and Community Science Subcommittee. She is a former member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Board on Environmental Change and Society, the NASEM Resilient America Roundtable, the EPA Chartered Science Advisory Board and the International Joint Commission Water Quality Board.
Dr. Wilson received her B.A. in Environmental Studies with Honors from Denison University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environment and Natural Resources from The Ohio State University. Dr. Wilson’s research over the past several years has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the USFWS Joint Fire Sciences Program, The USEPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, The Nature Conservancy, The Great Lakes Protection Fund, The Great Lakes Observing System, and The Fertilizer Institute (4R Research Fund).