Angie Kaufman was a Communications Associate at the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) from June 2021 to July 2022. Through her work, she contributed to internal and external communications, including compiling the latest information related to climate change and the transition to clean energy. In her role, she drafted briefing books, handled the monthly newsletter, and coordinated media interviews. Her passion is translating technical scientific and political language for a general audience, applying principles for effective communication about the climate crisis.
Kaufman holds a Bachelor of Science and Art from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied Neuroscience, researched learning and memory, and minored in Philosophy. For her undergraduate capstone thesis, Kaufman designed and pursued a certificate to study the cognitive and affective perspectives of decision-making and communication with a focus on climate change. Through this project, she analyzed the interconnected neurological, social, and psychological factors contributing to our capacity to perform mental time travel, how memory changes across a lifetime, climate change belief, and how national values affect responses to climate change. Ultimately, she proposed a method of improved environmental decision-making by policymakers and citizens.
Most recently, Kaufman founded the Policy Team in the Negative Emissions Technology Project at her Alma Mater in 2019. Through this initiative, she recruited a team to analyze the greater Austin region and propose the best carbon dioxide removal methods suited for the area’s physical and political landscape through a policy brief. In this effort, she coordinated with the City of Austin’s Climate Change Manager and EFI staff.
In her free time, Kaufman enjoys being in nature–especially rock climbing, trail running, backpacking, and paddle boarding–reading the latest on environmental policy, social justice, health and science, and making art, namely charcoal drawings.
