Dr. Dara M. Wald is an associate professor of environmental communication. She co-leads the Science Communications Lab in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications. Wald is also a Research Fellow in the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy (ISTPP) in The Bush School of Government and Public Service. Her research combines theory from psychology and policy to examine how trust, values, and power emerge, differ among audiences, and shape communication, collaborative processes, and policy outcomes in polarized environmental contexts. She is affiliated with the Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health Research and the Ecology of Bird Loss Project at Virginia Tech. Wald teaches courses in risk communication, public relations, and ag and life sciences communication and journalism. Wald has received over $69.2 million in research funding, including competitive research awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the USDA, and prestigious foundations. She has published 25 peer-reviewed journal articles, an academic book, and has been an invited speaker at peer institutions and international conferences. Wald is an associate editor of the Science and Environmental Communication section within Frontiers in Communication, a top open-access journal in her subfield. Wald received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2022. She is a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Wald was previously the co-organizer of the Science Communication Project and the socio-economic lead for the C-CHANGE Project at Iowa State University. She received the Cassling Innovation Award from Iowa State University in 2019. Wald received her PhD from the University of Florida and her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University.