Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is charged to handle the affairs of the society between meetings and consists of five officers.

President: John Fraser

John Fraser, PhD, AIA, is president and CEO of the New York City-based interdisciplinary nonprofit social science think tank NewKnowledge Organization Ltd., where as a conservation psychologist, architect and educator, he focuses on how people's experience with media and community influences their learning, attitudes and motivations for engagement with solving the problems that face society.

President-elect: Ezra Markowitz

Ezra Markowitz is an assistant professor of environmental decision-making at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He studies the intersection of decision-making, persuasive communication, public engagement with science and environmental sustainability. He is an author of "Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication." Ezra teaches courses on environmental decision-making, conservation social science, and public engagement for scientists. He holds a PhD in environmental science, studies and policy from the University of Oregon.

Past President: Beth Karlin

Beth Karlin believes the role of a researcher is not only to better understand the world but also to improve it — she devotes time equally amongst both goals. She works as a research psychologist, social change strategist, and program evaluator. Beth is the Research Director at U. Southern California as at the Norman Lear Center, studying and shaping the impact of entertainment and media on society. She founded the SEE Change Institute, bringing together academics and practitioners on program strategy, implementation, research and evaluation of behavioral programs for social and environmental change.

Secretary: Reuven Sussman

Reuven Sussman manages human dimensions of energy efficiency programs at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in Washington, D.C. He is co-chair of the annual Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference (BECC). Reuven was a behavior change consultant, university instructor, and researcher at the U. Victoria in Canada. Currently, he studies energy efficient behavior and programs that encourage energy efficiency through behavior change.

Treasurer: Daniel Benkendorf

Daniel Benkendorf is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. His research interests concern the psychological antecedents and consequences of sustainable and unsustainable consumer behavior. I am exploring the ways in which consumers approach "fast fashion," and how clothing purchase decisions can be distinguished from many other purchase decisions. In addition, I have studied the effects of emotional certainty on stereotyping, motivated decision-making processes in small groups, and interpersonal rejection.

Membership Chair: Nancy Piotrowski

Nancy Piotrowski works as a professor, researcher, consultant, advocate and psychological services provider. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she has 25-plus years of professional experience working at the local, state, federal, and international levels. She is interested in the transtheoretical model of change, expectancies, and how models of addiction may help influence science in the area of environmental, population and conservation psychology.

Chair of the Awards Committee: Cameron Brick

Cameron Brick is a postdoc at the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge. He has a PhD in social psychology at University of California Santa Barbara, and taught as an assistant professor at Hamilton College, NY. Cameron researches the psychology of responses to society-level problems such as climate change. Cameron builds quantitative lab, survey and field studies on communications and behaviors in social contexts.

Chair of the Communications Committee: Sabrina Köhler

Sabrina Köhler obtained her masters degree in psychology at the University of Mannheim in Germany. She is now keen on starting a PhD on a topic that combines her interests in psychology and global climate change. She is particularly interested in how perceptions of global warming and climate change risks influence adaptation behavior, and in addition, how this knowledge can then be used for effective policy making. 

Student Committee Chair: Salvia Artman

Salvia Artman is a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at the University of Utah. She is also working on an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in sustainability. Her research focuses on human connection with the natural environment and its impact on psychological well-being and environmental values and behaviors. 

2019 Program Chair: Brittany Bloodhart

Brittany Bloodhart is a social and environmental psychologist at Colorado State University. Her research examines the ways in which people think about and justify social and environmental injustices, and how changing those attitudes and beliefs can encourage greater pro-social behavior.

Fellows Chair: Elise Amel

Elise Amel holds a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, is a Professor of Psychology at the University of St. Thomas and has directed the Environmental Studies program. She co-created the Sustainable Communities Partnership which links St. Thomas courses across disciplines to city-identified, high-priority sustainability projects, created and leads culture change as Director of the Office of Sustainability Initiatives. She has served as President for the Society of Environmental, Population, & Conservation Psychology, is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and has co-authored the popular textbook, "Psychology for Sustainability."