Sarah-Mae Nelson

UC Climate Stewards Initiative Academic Coordinator

UC Elkus Ranch Environmental Education Center
1500 Purisima Creek Rd.
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
(408) 482-4633
smanelson@ucanr.edu

http://calnat.ucanr.edu/

Biography

Sarah-Mae is an educator, science communicator, and climate change communication specialist who draws on her background and interest in interpretation in informal science education centers. She has a Master's in Climate Science and Policy from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego and a B.S. in Marine Biology from UC Santa Cruz. She is a member of the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation, the National Association for Interpretation, and the UN Education, Communication, and Outreach Stakeholders (ECOS) Community. She was recognized by President Obama in 2015 as a Champion of Change in Climate Education and Literacy and was recently awarded the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award by the California Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education for her work.

Education

M.A.S. Climate Science and Policy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. 2018

B.S. Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2002

Awards

• Lifetime Achievement Award
  Presented by California Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education,  https://aeoe.org/Lifetime-Award,  2024
• Champion of Change - Climate Education and Literacy
  Presented by The White House - Office of Science and Technology Policy,  https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/champions/climate-education-and-literacy,  2015

Specialty

Areas of Expertise (click to see all ANR academics with this expertise)

• Program and Project Design, and Statistics
• Communication, Education, and Information Delivery
• Weather and Climate
• Conservation of Biological Diversity
• Sociological and Technological Change Affecting Individuals, Families, and Communities
• Climate Change
• Responding To Climate Change

Bibliography

Peer Reviewed

• Nelson, Sarah-Mae; Merenlender, Adina M., et al. (2022). Adult Climate Change Education Advances Learning, Self-Efficacy, and Agency for Community-Scale Stewardship. Sustainability - Education to Influence Pro-environmental Behavior.M. Monroe. MDPI. 14:3. February 4, 2022.  https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031804

• Bonanno, A., Ennes, M., Hoey, J.A., Moberg, E., Nelson, S-M., Pletcher, N., Tanner, R.L. 2021. Empowering hope-based climate change communication techniques for the Gulf of Maine. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 9(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00051

Non-Peer Reviewed

• Angulo, Sarah; Byrnes, Pamela, et al.; Chen, Jessica; Drill, Sabrina; Foreman, Shayna; Freutel, Eliot; Gamble, Brook; Haydon, Kelsey; Ira, Greg; Merenlender, Adina; Nelson, Sarah-Mae; Peeters, Michelle; Raleigh, Carrie; Rodriguez, Marisa; Sarick, Jill; and Utsumi, Karyn (2024). UC Environmental Stewards Instructor Manual.S. Nelson and P. Byrnes. April 30, 2024.

• Nelson, Sarah-Mae; Ira, Greg (2022). Multi-state Climate Stewards Course. A. Merenlender and K. Meadows, eds. June 30, 2022. 

• Nelson, Sarah-Mae (2021). Learning Involves the Whole Person: Building Social-Emotional Resilience for Climate Communication. [White Paper].

• Nelson, Sarah-Mae; Ira, Greg (2020). UC Climate Stewards Course. A. Merenlender and K. Meadows, eds. September 30, 2020. 

• Drill, Sabrina; Merenlender, Adina; Nelson, Sarah-Mae, et al. (2020). UC Climate Stewards Instructor Training Manual. July 7, 2020. 

• Nelson, S. (2018). Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Climate Change Studies Minor for the Unviersity of California San Diego. UC San Diego: Climate Science and Policy. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/93c132j0

ANR Workgroup Associations

• California Naturalist - Member
• Environmental Education - Member

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