Muhammad Ittefaq

Muhammad Ittefaq, a new assistant professor of environmental communication, joined the Knight Center faculty this semester.

Ittefaq, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas, is also affiliated with MSU’s Muslim Studies Program, and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Previously, he served as an assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University.

His research focuses on global news coverage of health and environmental issues, science misinformation, AI’s impact on health and environment, and how different populations interpret scientific messages, make decisions related to health and climate and support policies related to science.

Ittefaq is also a host of the Science Talk podcast on YouTube and Instagram. Through this podcast, he shared the latest research and knowledge while fostering genuine, open conversations with experts, authors, policymakers, communicators and journalists about the environment, climate change, science and health. His outreach work aims to inform the broader public and enrich the information ecosystem. His Instagram content reaches 5–10 million people monthly.

In addition to researching, teaching and podcasting, Ittefaq’s public-facing writing has been published by a range of news media outlets, think tanks  and research organizations. He writes about climate justice, polio vaccination, misinformation, the air pollution crisis in South Asia, climate activism in the Global South and more.