Faith Kearns

Faith Kearns is a scientist, communications expert, and strategist with over 25 years of experience leading research communication and engagement programs at universities, non-profits, and government agencies — on issues ranging from water to wildfire, oceans to landscapes, and climate to disasters. She builds programs, shapes public narratives, and creates the connective tissue between research institutions, government agencies, and communities so that science reaches the people and decision-makers who need it most.

Kearns currently serves as Director of Research Communication for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University, where she leads strategic research communications across one of the West's most consequential water research programs. Previously, she spent over a decade at the California Institute for Water Resources at the University of California, building water-related research communication infrastructure across the UC system during some of California's most severe drought, wildfire, and climate crises.

Her award-winning book Getting to the Heart of Science Communication: A Guide to Engagement (Island Press) has become a foundational resource across the field. She co-created and co-hosts Water Talk, an award-winning podcast now in its sixth season. She has written for High Country News, New Republic, On Being, and Bay Nature, and has been featured as an expert source in outlets including the Washington Post, Guardian, CNN, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic.

Over her career, Kearns has built and led science communication programs at the Ecological Society of America, UC Berkeley's Center for Fire Research and Outreach, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she helped bridge scientific research and national environmental policy campaigns. She served as an AAAS Science and Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State, negotiating international ocean and fisheries policy.

Kearns holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in Environmental Science and Political Science from Northern Arizona University.

See website for full CV.