Faculty member poses indoors.

Ran Duan

Assistant Professor of Environmental Communication She, her

Summary

Ran Duan is an assistant professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research interests span the areas of environmental, science, risk, and visual communication, such as the use of animation in environmental news, visual communication of wildfire and climate change. She currently takes an interdisciplinary perspective to examine news media coverage and risk perceptions of the intersection of environment and health, the nexus of climate change with the era of COVID‐19, and the implications of these areas for public policy and journalism practice.

Courses taught

  • JOUR 419/619: Data Journalism
  • JOUR 436/636: Risk Communication
  • JOUR 435/635: Mass Communication Research Methods

Recent work

  • Bombara, C. & Duan, R. (2024, To Appear) The development and validation of a scale for visual literacy. Journal of Visual Literacy.
  • Duan, R., Bombara, C., & Crosswell, L. (2024). Are COVID-19 and climate change competing crises? New evidence on the finite pool of worry and risk-as-feelings hypotheses. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 1-14.
  • Duan, R., & Bombara, C. (2023). Protective behaviors against wildfire smoke in the western United States: an extended protection motivation theory perspective. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction96, 103956.
  • Duan, R., & Bombara, C. (2022). Visualizing climate change: the role of construal level, emotional valence, and visual literacy. Climatic Change170, 1 (2022). Awarded Top Faculty Paper Award at Environmental Communication Division at the 71st International Communication Association Annual Conference
  • Duan, R., Zwickle, A., & Takahashi, B. (2022). Refining the application of Construal Level Theory: Egocentric and nonegocentric psychological distances in climate change visual communication. Environmental Communication, 1-16.
  • Duan, R., Hepworth, K. J., Ormerod, K. J., & Canon, C. (2021). Promoting concern for climate change: A study of wildfire photographs using Q methodology. Science Communication, doi: 10.1177/10755470211041689
  • Duan, R., Crosswell, L., & Barber, K. (2021). Animation in environmental journalism: Effects on news perception and information seeking. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 1-23.
  • Duan, R., Takahashi, B., & Zwickle, A. (2021). How effective are concrete and abstract climate change images? The moderating role of construal level in climate change visual communication. Science Communication43(3), 358-387. Awarded Top Faculty Paper Award at Environmental Communication Division at the 69th International Communication Association Annual Conference
  • Duan, R. & Miller, S. (2021) Climate change in China: A study of news diversity in party-sponsored and market-oriented newspapers. Journalism.

Selected service

  • Secretary, Risk Communication Division, Society for Risk Analysis, 2023-present
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2024-present

Education

  • Ph.D. in Media Information, Specialization in Environmental Science and Policy, Michigan State University, 2018
  • M.A. in Journalism, Michigan State University, 2014
  • Bachelor's in Journalism, Shandong University, 2012