About

Dr. Katie Abrams' Environmental Social Marketing Research Lab

The content on this website illustrates social marketing projects or components of larger projects led by Katie Abrams at Colorado State University. Professor Abrams' expertise is at the intersection of strategic communication, behavior change, and environmental, risk, and food issues. She is particularly interested in message design and strategy and their roles in behavior change and the social marketing framework. Since 2014, she's had the privilege of leading four large, applied social marketing projects on behalf of the National Park Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Working with dozens of CSU students and local collaborators, the research has demonstrated new ways in which social marketing approaches can increase wildlife-friendly behavior among visitors to Hawaii and 10 national parks across the U.S. This award-winning work is published in top academic journals and has been featured in major media outlets, including NPR and USA Today.

  • Watch a short video highlighting some of this work with CSU and University of Hawaii-Hilo students in 2021.

Current Projects

  1. Contributed paper (coming soon) providing social marketing and behavior change guidance to the U.S. Interagency Visitor Use Management Council 
  2. A literature review on anthropomorphizing wildlife in communication by natural resource management organizations (Lead: Lucy Chalgren, ABD, CSU)
  3. A systematic literature review on effects of communication and behavior change approaches for invasive species prevention behaviors
  4. Reducing boat strikes to sea turtles among recreational Florida boaters (Lead: Dr. Mariana Fuentes, Florida State University)

Related Journal Publications

Anderson, A. A., Abrams, K. M., Bice, C. …..Fischer, E. (forthcoming). Tailoring air quality communication for outdoor workers: Effects on information seeking. Social Marketing Quarterly.

Abrams, K. M., Dietsch, A., & Bice, C. (2025). Shaping camper behavior to protect wildlife: Effects of a social marketing approach in national parks. Environmental Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2025.2483280

Foerster, T., Chalgren, L., Abrams, K. M., Bice, C., & Singer, M. (2025). Informing or influencing? A content analysis of wildlife feeding deterrence messages in U.S. national park communications. Journal of Interpretation Research.

Chalgren, L., Anderson, A. A., Abrams, K. M., Guajardo, M., Magzamen, S., Pierce, J. R., McGuire, B., Ford, B., & Fischer, E. V. (2025). Development to distribution: A co-creation approach to wildfire smoke communications. Environmental Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae1b1c

Bice, C., Anderson, A. A., Abrams, K. M., Ford, B., Magzamen, S., Pierce, J. R., & Fischer, E. V. (2025). Air Aware: A theory-driven, co-designed air quality communication campaign to promote health protective behaviors among outdoor workers. Journal of Applied Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2025.2564074

Scott, D., Anderson, A. A., Abrams, K. M., Long, M., Ford, B., Magzamen, S., & Duncan, C. G. (2025). Dog owners are concerned about ambient air quality and require veterinary guidance. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.25.02.0124

Gross, E., Solomon, J., Abrams, K. M., Schorr, R., & Davis, S. (2025). Barriers and benefits of rock climber participation in citizen science for bat conservation. Conservation Science & Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70217

Tamlyn, K. A., Champine, V., Teel, T. L., Abrams, K. M., & Niemiec, R. M. (2025). From self to society: Comparing the social-psychological drivers of personal-sphere, social diffusion, and civic action behaviors in native plant gardening. Society & Natural Resources, 38(9), 1003–1019. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2025.2494011

Bice, C., Anderson, A. A., Abrams, K. M., & Long, M. (2024). Breathing on the job: Investigating predictors of air quality protective actions and information seeking among outdoor workers. Journal of Communication in Healthcare, https://doi.org/10.1080/17538068.2024.2320478 

Abrams, K., Molder, A., Nankey, P., & Leong, K. (2023). Encouraging respectful wildlife viewing among tourists: Roles for social marketing, regulatory information, symbolic barriers, and enforcement. Social Marketing Quarterly, 29(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/15245004231153085

Abrams, K., Bice, C., & Dietsch, A. (2023, May). Social marketing as a strategy to enhance wildlife protection: Four field studies in U.S. national park campgrounds. International Communication Association, Toronto, Canada.

Abrams, K., Bonser, C., & McCord, A. (2020). Exploring science communication effectiveness in the U.S. federal government research process: A case study with the us livestock producers' antimicrobial use research. Journal of Applied Communications, 104(4). https://doi.org/10.4148/1051-0834.2343

Abrams, K. M., Leong, K., Melena, S., & Teel, T. (2019). Encouraging safe wildlife viewing in national parks: Effects of a communication campaign on visitors’ behavior. Environmental Communication, 14(2), 255-270.

Please contact me for any presentations you may have seen and would like to receive a private copy of the paper.