Public Engagement

Science matters most when it is used to inform decision-making in the real world or to inspire new appreciation of the world around us. To do that, we need to communicate science beyond the specialized publications and conference talks in our narrow disciplines. That’s why Anne Jefferson and the Watershed Lab commit to public engagement – two-way conversations – about science in whatever ways they can.

Organizational Leadership

Anne serves as the director of Lake Champlain Sea Grant, which develops and shares science based knowledge to benefit the environment and economies of the Lake Champlain Basin. Lake Champlain Sea Grant’s talented and dedicated staff work with residents, students and teachers, community and business leaders, and agency staff in Vermont and New York. To learn more about the on-going work of Lake Champlain Sea Grant, visit or our web page or sign up for our newsletter.

Anne also serves as the director of the Vermont Water Resources and Lake Studies Center and the Northeastern States Research Cooperative. Along with Lake Champlain Sea Grant, these programs fund science research that serves the region. The three programs also produce ecoNEWS VT, an online portal to key findings from ecological research and monitoring being conducted in Vermont.

Other Activities

In 2016-2017, Anne was a member of the inaugural cohort of AAAS Leshner Leadeship Institute Public Engagement Fellows. Her 15 member cohort was focused on climate change science. As part of the fellowship, Anne went to DC for a week of intensive training and then returned to her institution with a mandate to find new creative and effective ways of public engagement and institutional transformation.

Anne is active on social media (currently, LinkedIn and BlueSky). She is also happy to give talks to community organizations in her area or to skype-a-scientist for groups and classes farther afield. Sometimes Anne gets the opportunity to talk to the media about some of the science that excites her.

Note for journalists: Anne is happy to serve an expert source on the three areas below.

  1. Water in cities and urban areas, including stormwater, green infrastructure, combined sewer overflows, and urban flooding.
  2. Flooding, particularly as it relates to climate change, land use, and river management (dams/levees)
  3. Career issues for women in science

Op-eds

Letters to the Editor

  • Call for new AAAS harassment policy. Science. 361(6406): 984. DOI: 10.1126/science.aav1680. (letter to the editor, September 2018 by Selin, N.E., Kenney, M., Jefferson, A.J., Dukes, J.S., Hill, T.M., Olabisi, L.M., and Duffy, M.A.)
  • Efforts large and small speed science reform. Science. 360(6385): 164. doi:10.1126/science.aat6341. (letter to the editor, April 2018 by Anne Jefferson and Melissa Kenney)

Media featuring Watershed Group research, 2012-present

  • Science News for Students, “Stores and malls buy into ponds and rain gardens for flood control“, August 19, 2021
  • Elevations (radio program on WKSU), Interview on forest restoration and hydrology in partnership with Cuyahoga Valley National Park, March 24, 2018
  • WKSU (NPR affiliate), “Road salt is having an effect on local ecosystems”, February 6, 2018
  • Record-Courier, “KSU professor: Road salt appears to be affecting local ecosystems”, February 5, 2018 (front page story)
  • Cleveland News 19 (CBS affiliate), “Road salt choking ecosystems and contaminating water, says Kent State professor,” January 31, 2018
  • Civil Engineering magazine, “Researchers evaluate effectiveness of ‘green’ infrastructure at the neighborhood scale”, March 2016 (2 full page feature)
  • Record-Courier, “KSU study: gardens help storm runoff”, November 30, 2015
  • Cleveland.com, “Cheers and Jeers: editorial”, November 25, 2015
  • Cleveland.com “Missing Brooklyn girl may have run away; Kent State, Cleveland Metroparks study reduced storm water in Parma: Best of the Beat”, November 22, 2015
  • Cleveland.com “Kent State University, Cleveland Metroparks project reduces storm water, pollution in Parma neighborhoods”, November 20, 2015
  • Kent Wired, “Kent professor researches urban storm management”, November 7, 2015

Extended interviews and podcasts, 2007-present