Rate My Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin

Wändi Bruine de Bruin is Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the University of Southern California's Sol Price School of Public Policy and Dornsife Department of Psychology. She directs the USC Schaeffer Behavioral Science and Policy Initiative. She earned a B.Sc. in Psychology and an M.Sc. in Cognitive Psychology from the Free University Amsterdam in 1989 and 1993, respectively, and an M.Sc. in Behavioral Decision Research and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Decision Research and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997 and 1998. Her career trajectory includes postdoctoral fellowships at Eindhoven University of Technology from 1999 to 2002 and Carnegie Mellon University from 2002 to 2009, assistant and associate professorships at Carnegie Mellon University's Departments of Engineering & Public Policy and Social & Decision Sciences from 2009 to 2014, and a professorship of Behavioral Decision Making with a University Leadership Chair at Leeds University Business School, where she headed the Center for Decision Research, from 2012 to 2019. At USC since 2020, she also holds senior fellow positions at the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies.

Bruine de Bruine's research focuses on the psychology of risk perception and communication, health behavior and patient decision making, public perceptions of climate change and sustainability, economic expectations and financial decision making, behavior change interventions, science communication, and age differences in decision making and well-being. She has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles, including "Everything in its own time: Planning Horizons vary across financial domains" (Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2025), "Disaster preparedness and perceptions of people who experienced water insecurity: Insights from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll" (Environmental Science & Technology, 2025), and "Evaluating adherence to patient registration paperwork guidelines: a mystery shopper study in English primary care" (BMJ Open, 2025). She is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences, Psychonomic Society, Society for Risk Analysis, and NETSPAR. Bruine de Bruin serves on editorial boards for Perspectives on Psychological Science, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Decision, Medical Decision Making, Journal of Risk Research, and Psychology and Aging. She contributed to National Academy of Sciences committees on communicating science effectively and respiratory protection, and the Council of the Canadian Academies committee on health product risk communication. Her projects inform policies on climate terminology, Medicare Part D plan comparisons, and global risk perceptions.