In 2013-2014, Lauren Copeland is working with CNS-UCSB as a Postdoctoral Scholar. She has been working with CNS since 2011 as a Graduate Student Researcher and as the Project Lead for the Politics of Consumer Choice in the Risk Perception Research Group (IRG-3).  

Lauren received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science in June 2013.  Her dissertation research used original, nationally-representative U.S. survey data to examine what motivates people to engage in boycotting and buycotting--which collectively comprise political consumerism--and how these activities relate to other forms of political behavior. This research has resulted in two peer-reviewed publications in Political Studies and American Politics Research, as well as a chapter in an edited volume under contract with CQ Press. Four additional article manuscripts are in preparation, including one that examines how exposure to risk vs. benefit frames influences people's willingness to purchase six categories of nano-enabled consumer products.

A second line of her research addresses a larger debate in the political communication literature about the potential for digital media use to strengthen democracy by lowering the costs of communication and participation. Some of this work has been published in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics and in New Media & Society. 

Lauren is also a recipient of the Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship, the Colin Reed Manzer-Robert G. Wesson Award for Best Paper Presented at a Professional Meeting, the Graduate Student Association's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Department of Political Science's distinguished teaching assistant award.