Louise Lief is an independent consultant whose current work focuses on strategies to empower diverse communities and advance problem solving. She brings to this field a wealth of experience in research, programming, and storytelling in a range of areas, including democracy and governance, media, civil society, science, environment, global health, food security, and other international issues.

She has been deputy director of the International Reporting Project and scholar-in-residence at American University School of Communication's Investigative Reporting Workshop. As a public policy scholar at the Wilson Center with the Environmental Change and Security Program and the Science and Technology Innovation Program, she founded the Science and the Media project.

An award-winning writer and producer, she has worked for many top U.S. news organizations domestically and overseas, including the New York Times, CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” and U.S. News and World Report. Ms. Lief has traveled to over 70 countries and has reported from five continents. She speaks Arabic, Hebrew, French, and Spanish.

Twitter: @sciandmedia