Perception vs. Reality

From Park University to Carnegie Mellon University and the RAND Corporation, this alumna is dedicated to helping people make better decisions.

When tornado sirens wailed across her Dearborn, Mo., hometown, Rachel Dryden Steratore, ’13, Ph.D., remembers often asking her mom, “Why aren’t we going to the cellar?”

Steratore grappled to understand why they sometimes took cover from a potentially deadly tornado and other times they didn’t. “My mom would explain how she observed the clouds and sky: Did it look green? Was there large hail? Did wild winds contort tree limbs before slowing to a deafening silence?”

Her childhood experiences turned into a lifelong fascination with weather, natural disasters and how people make decisions in the face of risk and uncertainty, and led Steratore to Park University and a career as an associate researcher at the RAND Corporation based in Santa Monica, Calif.

Perception of risk

From weather and climate to vaccine hesitancy, homeland security and artificial intelligence, Steratore seeks to understand how risks are perceived and how the objective realities of risks can be more effectively communicated. This complex and increasingly critical research underscores Steratore’s work with senior policy leaders across the U.S.

“People often make decisions based on their perception of risk, not objective risk,” Steratore said. “My mom relied on environmental cues from experiences living in ‘Tornado Alley.’ Many people similarly make critical decisions based on personal knowledge. Though there is merit to this, it can hinder one’s ability to make the best, most informed decisions for themselves and the greater good of their families and communities.”

By identifying misconceptions and information gaps, Steratore builds mental models to show how people internally perceive external reality. “With this baseline clarity, we can augment communication strategies to help leaders and organizations more effectively convey objective risks to enable more informed decision making.”

But let’s back up…

Establishing a career with RAND is an extraordinary achievement. The world-renowned nonprofit, nonpartisan institution is dedicated to finding solutions to public policy challenges through research and analysis.

Rachel Dryden Steratore, ’13, Ph.D. (center), attributes her success and belief in what is possible to her many Park University mentors and champions, including (clockwise from top left) Scott Hageman, associate professor of geology and geosciences and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; David Fox, adjunct instructor of geography; Virginia Brackett, Ph.D., professor emerita of English, who led Park’s Honors Academy for more than 15 years; and Greg Claycomb, Ph.D., professor of chemistry.

“To say it was competitive is an understatement,” Steratore said. “The prerequisite to be considered an associate researcher is, at a minimum, a doctorate degree and, generally, three to five years of experience.” Soon after earning a doctorate in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2019, Steratore joined RAND in Pittsburgh, following a rigorous hiring process which included presenting her published research on the perception of climate change.

“I always knew I wanted to pursue a doctorate degree, but I never concerned myself with exactly how or where,” she said. In fact, Steratore said she’s proud to be the first woman in her family to earn an undergraduate degree, let alone a doctorate.

Every step of the way

On her path to RAND, Steratore said she simply followed her passion, along with hours of study and hard work. While pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental sciences at Park, Steratore found the solid foundation she needed, along with a merit scholarship, and the support of lifelong Park mentors “who’ve supported me every step of the way.”

“Starting at Park is when I flourished,” she said. “I was a good student in high school. I knew what interested me, but I didn’t know how to structure it into a career path,” she said. “My first class was Natural Disasters. It was an 8 a.m. class, but I didn’t care. I knew I was in the right place.”

Since that first class, Steratore continues to stay in touch with Scott Hageman, associate professor of geology and geosciences and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who helped customize her undergraduate coursework and championed her pursuit of internships, scholarships and advanced education.

“Park’s doors were always wide open to help me pursue invaluable opportunities, including internships to conduct undergraduate research at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the National Weather Service,” she said.

Guided by Google

“So many students feel pressure to succeed…to get this degree or get in to that school,” Steratore said. “I’ve never concerned myself with looking into schools because of prestige. What’s most important is to find a place, like Park, that is dedicated to helping you pursue what truly interests you.”

Guided by a tireless curiosity, Steratore laughed about her penchant for “Googling” her interests — and proactively reaching out.

After discovering an online article about disasters and decision making, Steratore decided to e-mail the author about her similar interests. “I had no idea he was a professor and I’d never heard of McGill University or that it’s widely considered to be the ‘Harvard of Canada,’” she said. That one e-mail led to an invitation to a full scholarship, and ultimately, packing her bags for Montreal. At McGill, the author became Steratore’s graduate adviser for her Master of Science degree in physical geography. The two recently published their work in the scientific journal, Global Environmental Change.

Steratore recently returned to Parkville, Mo., with her husband and infant son to be closer to family while working remotely for RAND. She continues to be guided by her passion. “My goal is to start the Center to Advance Weather and Climate Literacy,” she said. “I want it to be located in the Midwest and a part of RAND. In fact, I’ve outlined my vision and have already started pitching it,” she said. “It’s my ultimate dream.”

Climate-Change Conversation: Full-Stop Facts

Perception vs. reality is at the crux of the climate change challenge. From her extensive climate research and work with policy leaders, Rachel Dryden Steratore, ’13, Ph.D., said there are fundamental fullstop facts everyone must understand to be informed participants in public discourse about climate change.

- The primary cause of climate change is carbon dioxide that is added to the atmosphere when coal, oil and natural gas are burned.

- Carbon dioxide is an invisible gas with no regional boundaries.

- Unlike common air pollutants (such as smog) which typically remain in the atmosphere for a few hours to a few days, carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.

- There is no time to delay action.

“In my research, I often hear comments such as, ‘Well, if climate change ever gets serious, we’ll just cut emissions and everything will go back to normal.’ But this is not possible,” Steratore said. “We can’t delay action because that’s not how CO2 works. Even if we stopped all CO2 emissions today, we’d continue to see warming that we’ve already triggered for centuries.”