Wanyun Shao

Wanyun Shao is currently an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Alabama. She is also an Early-Career research fellow of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program from 2017-2019. Her primary research interests are focused on human-environment interactions at various geographic scales and their policy implications. Specific interests include: human dimension of climate change, environmental risk perceptions, community resilience to environmental hazards, environmental policies and planning, social response to hydrological hazards, and environmental hazards and public health. The interdisciplinary nature of her research leads her to work across traditional disciplinary lines. She has worked with scientists in a wide range of fields, including climatology, civil and environmental engineering, political science, sociology, public policy, communication, statistics, and economics. Shao has published nearly 20 scientific papers in numerous reputable international scholarly journals. For science communication effort, Shao has published several policy analysis articles for mass media outlets such as the Conversation, Vox, and the Washington Post. She is an associate editor in the subject area of Geography and Demography for Palgrave Communications (a Nature journal).