Jessica Eise, PhD

Dr. Eise is a researcher on climate change, food security, technology and communication. She seeks to understand how individuals, society and Earth interrelate and how we can leverage these connections to overcome difficult challenges such as climate change and hunger. She is passionate about improving human life for everyone through innovation and our better natures. Dr. Eise is an assistant professor of social and environmental challenges with The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Dr. Eise’s research currently focuses on understanding agricultural and rural communities and the complex social systems that influence their ability to adapt to changing climates. Accounting for macro and micro factors, she examines how to create tailored communication efforts and projects with them to support and empower adaptation to improve and ensure continued global food security. She also researches our human connection with the environment, how technology can be used to support prosocial environmental change and how we can communicate science better and more effectively.

She is the founder of the blended academic/social project Clima y Café (Climate and Coffee), an innovative, targeted climate change initiative that uses precision and grassroots outreach strategies to support climate change adaptation in the Colombian coffee sector. Dr. Eise’s team conducts formative research and produces and measures tailored outreach content encouraging action and support for climate change adaptation, such as digital tools and in-person outreach to capitalize on and empower local network strengths. As a branch of this initiative, she was the executive director on the 2020 Desarraigo (Uprooted) multimedia empathy-building campaign, featured by multiple leading media outlets in Colombia such as El Espectador and Semana Sostenible. 

Her books include How to Feed the World and The Communication Scarcity in Agriculture. Her research has been cited in outlets such as VICE, Vox, Scientific American and her articles have appeared in U.S. News & World Report, Salon and CNBC amongst others. She won a national essay award for her piece on artificial intelligence (AI) The Fatal Flaw. In addition to writing academic articles, Dr. Eise believes in open-source information and making knowledge accessible; she is active on social media – Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand her blog. Dr. Eise has spoken at organizations and universities such as the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the AVEC General Assembly in Hungary, IESE in Spain and IICA in Costa Rica.

Dr. Eise has a PhD in communication from Purdue University and a master’s in journalism and international relations from New York University. She was awarded the Ross Fellowship in the Purdue Brian Lamb School of Communication, formerly served as the director of communications with the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics as well as a practitioner in media production and new media in Washington, DC, and abroad (primarily Latin America, Middle East and Europe).

Researcher

As a social scientist and engaged scholar, Jessica blends qualitative methods with computational technologies to solve real-world problems. Her research largely focuses on climate change adaptation, food security, agriculture, wellbeing and technology.

Writer

Jessica is an author, award-winning essayist on AI and blogger. Her articles have appeared in CNBC, Salon and others. Her nonfiction books include How to Feed the World, The Communication Scarcity in Agriculture and other works.

Speaker

Jessica is an international speaker on communication, agriculture, climate change and other topics related to her work. She has given invited speeches for organizations and universities in Germany, Hungary, Spain, the United States and others.

Consultant

Partnering with organizations and universities, Jessica enjoys consulting as a subject matter expert (impacts of climate change on human life, agricultural communication, food security), storyteller, media and communication strategist and researcher.

Instructor

Jessica instructs classes, trainings or short courses with universities and organizations around strategic communication and science communication in food security, agriculture, climate change, media, technology and artificial intelligence.

Artist

Delving into our collective subconscious, Jessica is an abstract artist with a flare for the irreverent. She also writes Indie fiction, with a focus on science fiction and fantastical adventures that can be both light-hearted or dark in turn.

Expertise & Interests

  • Climate Change
  • Food Security
  • Agriculture
  • Global Chronic Stressors
  • Science Communication
  • Strategic Communication
  • Organizational Communication
  • Technology Adoption
  • Technology Access
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Media
  • Social Systems

Experience

  • Field Research
  • Qualitative Analysis
  • Network Analysis
  • In-Depth Interviews
  • Human Subjects Data Collection
  • Grant writing
  • Storytelling
  • Broadcast
  • Project Management
  • Media Production
  • Campaign Production

Don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Eise at Jessica.eise@utsa.edu for partnerships to tackle hard problems on climate change and food security, to build innovative and unexpected communication and outreach solutions, for speaking or for media inquiries. 

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