Dr. Lauren Gibson specializes in empowering young people to take environmental action for societal change. She currently serves as the first special advisor on youth engagement at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), working to bring more youth voices into agency decision-making. In previous roles, Dr. Gibson has consulted on youth-adult partnerships, researched the factors that drive young people to engage in large-scale environmental advocacy behaviors, and communicated the importance of environmental education efforts to Congress. Her experiences growing up as a youth environmental activist herself continue to inform her work.