About

Dominique Brossard is a professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She teaches courses in strategic communication theory and research, focusing on science and risk communication for both undergraduate and graduate students, including those in the Science Communication Ph.D. program. Brossard's research agenda centers on the intersection between science, media, and policy, with a particular emphasis on public opinion dynamics related to controversial scientific issues. She is an expert in understanding the role of values in shaping public attitudes and employs cross-cultural analysis to explore these processes. Brossard has published extensively in prominent outlets and serves as an expert panelist for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She has held numerous national and international service roles, including on the NASEM Board of Life Sciences and the Advisory Committee for the NASEM Division of Behavioral & Social Sciences & Education. Her professional background includes experience in both laboratory and corporate settings, notably at Accenture and as a communication coordinator for the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II. She holds an M.S. in plant biotechnology from the Ecole Nationale d’Agronomie de Toulouse and both an M.P.S. and Ph.D. in communication from Cornell University.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Social Science
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Public relations
• Internet privacy
• Business
• Medicine
• Engineering
• Environmental health
• Knowledge management
• Data science
• Mathematics
• Pathology
• Biotechnology
• Engineering ethics
• Social psychology
• Waste management
• Pedagogy
• Biology
• Law

Selected publications

• A golden opportunity: Invasive golden oyster mushrooms as a case study for engaging the public in fungal biodiversity monitoring and conservation

  2026-03-10

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Invasive mushrooms are hardly studied, but invasive species are an intuitive phenomenon that can facilitate collaboration between biologists and the public. People often respond to invasions by increasing their stewardship of local land and biodiversity. Engaging the public about the dynamics of invasions can also spark highly focused campaigns to increase biodiversity monitoring, often facilitating the adoption of conservation practices to minimize or even prevent additional invasions. Golden oyster mushrooms (GOM; Pleurotus citrinopileatus) are the first example of a widely cultivated and edible fungus which has escaped cultivation and become invasive. Rapidly spreading in North America, it also poses a threat in Europe. GOM has captured popular attention and been extensively featured in the press. As a result, the public is now more aware both that fungi, particularly cultivated mushrooms, can aggressively invade and impact native fungi and that native fungal biodiversity is crucial, vulnerable, and in need of conservation. In the wake of our publication on GOM’s negative ecological impacts, we put out an open call inviting diverse stakeholders that interact with GOM – such as hobbyists, businessowners, foragers, and biodiversity advocates – to share their perspectives on invasive mushrooms and their management moving forward. We have built relationships through our stakeholder conversations and have a broad understanding about the willingness to halt distributing or growing GOM. Our key insights are that stakeholder perspectives on GOM are responsive to scientific evidence, even if it opposes their previously held beliefs. We present GOM as a case study demonstrating the success of applying science communication theory to biodiversity research, public outreach, and stakeholder engagement to achieve the following: 1) break down barriers between academia and the public, 2) build public trust in science, 3) highlight the importance of fungal biodiversity to public audiences, and 4) engage a passionate global community of amateur and professional mycologists in invasive species monitoring and biodiversity conservation. We are now collaborating internationally with European mycologists and stakeholders to prevent GOM’s potential spread in Europe, mirroring the social approach we used with North American publics.

  PublisherDOI

• Connecting Social Media Use With Education- and Race-Based Gaps in Factual and Perceived Knowledge Across Wicked Science Issues

  Social Media + Society · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Using three U.S. public opinion survey datasets, this study examines whether use of specific social media platforms affects the gaps in factual and perceived knowledge of three wicked science issues among Americans with different racial and socioeconomic makeup. Less-educated Americans are less likely to gain factual knowledge but more likely to gain perceived knowledge from increased social media use than more-educated Americans. Racial minorities are more likely to gain both factual and perceived science knowledge than White Americans with increased social media use. Furthermore, social media use was linked to wider education-based gaps in factual knowledge and narrower education-based gaps in perceived knowledge among racial minorities than among Whites. Theoretical and practical implications for equitable science communication are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Emerging Debates About Breakthrough Science: Understanding the Interplay of Values and Cognition in Shaping Attitudes on Human Brain Organoids

  Science Communication · 2025-01-26 · 6 citations

  articleSenior author

  Human brain organoids (HBOs) hold the potential for major medical breakthroughs but raise ethical considerations that could intensify public scrutiny and regulatory challenges. This study explores the underlying value and cognitive pathways shaping public opinion of HBOs. Findings reveal political ideology correlates to moral opposition to HBOs, regardless of information intake. Religiosity predicts moral opposition, while deference to science correlates with support for HBOs. Moreover, risk-benefit perceptions shape public attitudes, but this relationship is moderated by deference to science. These findings lead to a better understanding of public opinion dynamics early in the issue attention cycle for emerging wicked science.

  PublisherDOI

• AI scientists’ and lay publics’ views of AI’s social impacts: segmentation analyses on risk and benefit perceptions

  Journal of Risk Research · 2025-09-14

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Familiarity Matters: Examining the Effects of AI-Generated Images on Science Information Credibility

  Science Communication · 2025-10-18

  articleSenior author

  Generative AI tools help illustrate complex scientific concepts, though concerns about accuracy persist. This study examined how AI-generated Instagram posts about CRISPR, with and without disclaimers indicating AI involvement, affect perceived credibility. In an online survey experiment with 742 U.S. adults, participants were randomly assigned to view content that varied by message frame (natural, neutral, or technology-focused) and the presence or absence of an AI disclaimer. Overall, AI disclaimers did not significantly affect credibility across frames. However, participants more familiar with AI perceived AI-disclaimed posts as more credible, while those less familiar perceived them as less credible.

  PublisherDOI

• The perception and use of generative AI for science-related information search: Insights from a cross-national study

  Public Understanding of Science · 2025-01-31 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access

  Publicly accessible large language models like ChatGPT are emerging as novel information intermediaries, enabling easy access to a wide range of science-related information. This study presents survey data from seven countries ( N = 4320) obtained in July and August 2023, focusing on the perception and use of GenAI for science-related information search. Despite the novelty of ChatGPT, a sizable proportion of respondents already reported using it to access science-related information. In addition, the study explores how these users perceive ChatGPT compared with traditional types of information intermediaries (e.g. Google Search), their knowledge of, and trust in GenAI, compared with nonusers as well as compared with those who use ChatGPT for other purposes. Overall, this study provides insights into the perception and use of GenAI at an early stage of adoption, advancing our understanding of how this emerging technology shapes public understanding of science issues as an information intermediary.

  PublisherDOI

• The Human Factor in AI Governance: Dispositional Predictors of Public Concern and Regulatory Support

  Technology in Society · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Measuring Science Literacy in a Digital World: Development and Validation of a Multi-Dimensional Survey Scale

  Science Communication · 2025-02-10 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We present a new multilingual 14-item scale for measuring science literacy in survey and experimental research. The scale captures three essential dimensions of science literacy in a digital world: civic science literacy, science media literacy, and cognitive science literacy. We developed, tested, and validated the scale through two preregistered national quota surveys in Switzerland and the United States in four languages (English, German, French, Italian). Iterative factor analyses, Bayesian Item Response Theory analyses, and validity tests confirm robustness and reliability of the scale.

  PublisherDOI

• The perception and use of generative AI for science-related information search: Insights from a cross-national study

  Open access LMU (Ludwid Maxmilian's Universitat Munchen) · 2025-01-01

  other

  Publicly accessible large language models like ChatGPT are emerging as novel information intermediaries, enabling easy access to a wide range of science-related information. This study presents survey data from seven countries (N = 4320) obtained in July and August 2023, focusing on the perception and use of GenAI for science-related information search. Despite the novelty of ChatGPT, a sizable proportion of respondents already reported using it to access science-related information. In addition, the study explores how these users perceive ChatGPT compared with traditional types of information intermediaries (e.g. Google Search), their knowledge of, and trust in GenAI, compared with nonusers as well as compared with those who use ChatGPT for other purposes. Overall, this study provides insights into the perception and use of GenAI at an early stage of adoption, advancing our understanding of how this emerging technology shapes public understanding of science issues as an information intermediary.

  PublisherDOI

• Exploring temporal and cross-national patterns: The use of generative AI in science-related information retrieval across seven countries

  Journal of Science Communication · 2025-04-14 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  This study explores the role of ChatGPT in science-related information retrieval, building on research conducted in 2023. Drawing on online survey data from seven countries—Australia, Denmark, Germany, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States—and two data collection points (2023 and 2024), the study highlights ChatGPT’s growing role as an information intermediary, reflecting the rapid diffusion of generative AI (GenAI) in general. While GenAI adoption is a global phenomenon, distinct regional variations emerge in the use of ChatGPT for science-related searches. Additionally, the study finds that a specific subset of the population is more likely to use ChatGPT for science-related information retrieval. Across all countries surveyed, science-information seekers report higher levels of trust in GenAI compared to non-users. They also exhibit a stronger understanding of how (Gen)AI works and, with some notable exceptions, show greater awareness of its epistemic limitations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Dietram A. Scheufele

  227 shared

• Michael A. Xenos

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  93 shared

• Sara K. Yeo

  University of Utah

  32 shared

• Christopher D. Wirz

  30 shared

• Laïla El Kihel

  28 shared

• Emily L. Howell

  Texas A&M University

  28 shared

• Leona Yi-Fan Su

  26 shared

• Ashley A. Anderson

  22 shared

Education

• M.S. and Ph.D, Department of Communication

  Cornell University

  2002

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sc…
• Fellow of the International Communication Association