Julie Downs

Julie S. Downs is a professor of psychology and decision science and associate dean of research. She is director of the Center for Risk Perception and Communication. She has served on the editorial board of Psychological Science, as associate editor at Developmental Review, on numerous grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and on the institutional review boards at CMU and at Disney Research.

Downs studies social influences on decisions, particularly the impact of social norms, with the goal of helping people improve their decisions and outcomes. She has created behavioral interventions that have been shown in scientific studies to change behavior and have gained wide use in real-world settings. Her research focuses on domains involving risky behavior, including adolescent sexual decision making, choices about food, behaviors relating to trust and privacy online, vaccination, and other settings. Her research has been published in psychological, economic, public policy and medical journals, and her interventions have won numerous awards including two Platinum Remi Awards at the Houston Worldfest International Film Festival, as well as multiple Aurora Awards, Telly Awards, and others.