research overview
- Roger A. Pielke, Jr.'s research focuses on challenging issues where science, technology and politics collide.
- Contact Info
PIELKE, ROGER, Jr. Professor
Positions
- Professor, Environmental Studies Program
Research Areas
Research
keywords
- research, teaching and outreach on issues of governance in science and technology, currently focused on science advice in the global pandemic, energy and climate policy, various topics of sports governance
Publications
selected publications
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book
- The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters and Climate Change 2018
- The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won't Tell You about Global Warming 2011
- Presidential Science Advisors: Perspectives and Reflections on Science, Policy and Politics 2010
- The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics 2007
- Scienza e politica. La lotta per il consenso 2005
- Prediction: Science, Decision Making and the Future of Nature. Ed. PIELKE, ROGER, Jr.. 2000
- Storms. Ed. PIELKE, ROGER, Jr.. 2000
- Hurricanes 1997
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chapter
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Weather and Climate Damage Studies
2018
- Decision Making and the Future of Nature: Understanding and Using Predictions. 71-108. 2018
- The Neglected Heart of Science Policy: Reconciling Supply of and Demand for Science. 3-42. 2018
- Breaking the global-warming gridlock (2000) 2014
- Climate of Failure (2012) 2014
- Lifting the taboo on adaptation (2007) 2014
- Blown Away: monetary and human impacts of the 2011 U.S. tornadoes. 107-120. 2012
- Societal vulnerability to hurricanes: Considerations on the use of long-range forecasts 2011
- Creating useful knowledge: The role of climate science policy 2010
- Climate prediction: a limit to adaptation? 2009
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Dangerous assumptions.
Nature.
531-532.
2008
- Vulnerability to natural disasters 2007
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Disasters, Death, and Destruction— Making Sense of Recent Calamities.
Oceanography.
138-147.
2006
- Abortion, Tornadoes and Forests: Thinking about Science, Politics and Policy 2004
- Contrast between predictive and vulnerability approaches 2004
- Predictability and Uncertainty 2004
- Public-Private Provision of Weather and Climate Services: Defining the Policy Problem 2003
- Il significato della scienza 2003
- The role of models in prediction for decision 2003
- Flood impacts on society: Damaging floods as a framework for assessment 2000
- Decision making and the future of nature: Understanding, using, and producing predictions 2000
- Introduction: Death, taxes, and environmental policy 2000
- Short-term weather prediction: an orchestra in search of a conductor 2000
- Introduction to storms 2000
- The Space Shuttle program: Performance versus promise 1992
- The future of the Space Station program 1992
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Weather and Climate Damage Studies
2018
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conference proceeding
-
journal article
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Sport research and the policy movement.
European Journal for Sport and Society.
135-152.
2021
-
Economic ‘normalisation’ of disaster losses 1998–2020: a literature review and assessment.
Environmental Hazards.
93-111.
2021
-
IPCC baseline scenarios have over-projected CO2 emissions and economic growth.
Environmental Research Letters.
2021
-
Memo for President Biden: Five steps to getting more from science.
Nature.
546-547.
2020
- A "Sedative" for Science Policy. Issues in science and technology. 2020
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An evaluation of good governance in US Olympic sport National Governing Bodies.
European Sport Management Quarterly.
480-499.
2020
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Five ways to ensure that models serve society: a manifesto.
Nature.
482-484.
2020
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Reply to: Improving normalized hurricane damages.
Nature Sustainability.
519-519.
2020
- Science, Sport, Sex, and the Case of Caster Semenya,. Issues in science and technology. 2019
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Normalised insurance losses from Australian natural disasters: 1966–2017.
Environmental Hazards.
414-433.
2019
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From Green Revolution to Green Evolution: A Critique of the Political Myth of Averted Famine.
Minerva: a review of science, learning and policy.
265-291.
2019
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Scientific integrity and the IAAF testosterone regulations.
International Sports Law Journal.
18-26.
2019
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Scientific integrity and the IAAF testosterone regulations (vol 19, pg 18, 2019).
International Sports Law Journal.
27-28.
2019
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Caster Semenya ruling: sports federation is flouting ethics rules.
Nature.
2019
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Scientific integrity and anti-doping regulation.
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.
295-313.
2019
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Tracking progress on the economic costs of disasters under the indicators of the sustainable development goals.
Environmental Hazards.
1-6.
2019
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Normalized hurricane damage in the continental United States 1900-2017.
Nature Sustainability.
808-813.
2018
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Continental U.S. Hurricane Landfall Frequency and Associated Damage: Observations and Future Risks.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
1359-1376.
2018
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Assessing Doping Prevalence is Possible. So What Are We Waiting For?.
Sports Medicine.
207-209.
2018
- Opening Up the Climate Policy Envelope. Issues in science and technology. 2018
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Sugar, spice and everything nice: how to end ‘sex testing’ in international athletics.
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.
649-665.
2017
- Climate Change as Symbolic Politics in the United States. 11-15. 2017
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The Truthiness about Hurricane Catastrophe Models.
Science, Technology and Human Values.
547-576.
2017
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Reconciliation of Trends in Global and Regional Economic Losses from Weather Events: 1980–2008.
Natural Hazards Review.
04014009-04014009.
2014
- In Retrospect: The Social Function of Science. Nature. 427-428. 2014
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How can FIFA be held accountable?.
Sport Management Review.
255-267.
2013
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Normalized tornado damage in the United States: 1950–2011.
Environmental Hazards.
132-147.
2013
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Basic Research as a Political Symbol.
Minerva: a review of science, learning and policy.
339-361.
2012
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Historical Global Tropical Cyclone Landfalls*.
Journal of Climate.
4729-4735.
2012
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Post-Normal Science in a German Landscape.
Nature and Culture.
196-212.
2012
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Improving conveyance of uncertainties in the findings of the IPCC.
Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change.
2011
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A Democracy Paradox in Studies of Science and Technology.
Science, Technology and Human Values.
474-496.
2011
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Shuttle programme lifetime cost.
Nature.
38-38.
2011
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An evaluation of the targets and timetables of proposed Australian emissions reduction policies.
Environmental Science and Policy.
20-27.
2011
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Effective media reporting of sea level rise projections: 1989-2009.
Environmental Research Letters.
2011
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Emergence timescales for detection of anthropogenic climate change in US tropical cyclone loss data.
Environmental Research Letters.
2011
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The carbon economy and climate mitigation: an editorial essay.
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: WIREs Climate Change.
770-772.
2010
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Influence of Location, Population, and Climate on Building Damage and Fatalities due to Australian Bushfire: 1925-2009.
Weather, Climate and Society.
300-310.
2010
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Decarbonization figures for India and China unconvincing.
Nature.
158-159.
2009
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An alternative explanation for differential temperature trends at the surface and in the lower troposphere.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
2009
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Mamizu climate policy: an evaluation of Japanese carbon emissions reduction targets.
Environmental Research Letters.
2009
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Normalized Earthquake Damage and Fatalities in the United States: 1900–2005.
Natural Hazards Review.
84-101.
2009
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An idealized assessment of the economics of air capture of carbon dioxide in mitigation policy.
Environmental Science and Policy.
216-225.
2009
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The British Climate Change Act: a critical evaluation and proposed alternative approach.
Environmental Research Letters.
2009
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Do We Need Better Predictions to Adapt to a Changing Climate?.
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union.
111-112.
2009
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The Rise and Fall of the Science Advisor to the President of the United States.
Minerva: a review of science, learning and policy.
7-29.
2009
- The Nonscientist Science Adviser. Science. 1010-1010. 2009
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United States hurricane landfalls and damages: Can one- to five-year predictions beat climatology?.
Environmental Hazards.
187-200.
2009
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Climate predictions and observations.
Nature Geoscience.
206-206.
2008
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Future economic damage from tropical cyclones: sensitivities to societal and climate changes.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.
2717-2729.
2007
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Confronting disaster losses.
Science.
753-753.
2007
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Who has the ear of the president?.
Nature.
347-348.
2007
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Mistreatment of the economic impacts of extreme events in the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change.
Global Environmental Change.
302-310.
2007
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Lifting the taboo on adaptation.
Nature.
597-598.
2007
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The neglected heart of science policy: reconciling supply of and demand for science.
Environmental Science and Policy.
5-16.
2007
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Kicking the carbon habit: Global warming and the case for renewable and nuclear energy.
Nature.
753-754.
2006
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Reply to “Hurricanes and Global Warming Potential Linkages and Consequences”.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
628-631.
2006
- Attribution of disaster losses. Science. 1615-1616. 2005
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Hurricanes and global warming.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
1571-+.
2005
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Clarifying the attribution of recent disaster losses. A response to Epstein and McCarthy.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
1481-1483.
2005
-
How accurate are disaster loss data? The case of US flood damage.
Natural Hazards.
211-228.
2005
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Consensus about climate change?.
Science.
952-953.
2005
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Distinguishing Tropical Cyclone-Related Flooding in U.S. Presidential Disaster Declarations: 1965–1997.
Natural Hazards Review.
55-59.
2005
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Reanalysis of U.S. National Weather Service Flood Loss Database.
Natural Hazards Review.
13-22.
2005
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Bringing society back into the climate debate.
Population and Environment.
255-268.
2005
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Misdefining "climate change": consequences for science and action.
Environmental Science and Policy.
548-561.
2005
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What future for the policy sciences?.
Policy Sciences: an international journal devoted to the improvement of policy making.
209-225.
2004
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What future for the policy sciences? A rejoinder to Muth, Pelletier, and Wallace.
Policy Sciences: an international journal devoted to the improvement of policy making.
255-258.
2004
- What is climate change?. Issues in science and technology. 31-34. 2004
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The societal, social, and economic impacts of the World Weather Research Programme Sydney 2000 Forecast Demonstration Project (WWRP S2000FDP).
Weather and Forecasting.
168-178.
2004
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Understanding User Decision Making and the Value of Improved Precipitation Forecasts: Lessons From a Case Study.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
223-236.
2004
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Editor's introduction.
Environmental Science and Policy.
355-356.
2004
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When scientists politicize science: making sense of controversy over The Skeptical Environmentalist.
Environmental Science and Policy.
405-417.
2004
- Supply and demand for atmospheric sciences professionals: A rejoinder to Vali and Anthes. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 1164-1165. 2003
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Hurricane Vulnerability in Latin America and The Caribbean: Normalized Damage and Loss Potentials.
Natural Hazards Review.
101-114.
2003
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Vulnerability and Risk: Some Thoughts from a Political and Policy Perspective.
Risk Analysis: an international journal.
805-810.
2003
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Best practices in prediction for decision-making: Lessons from the atmospheric and earth sciences.
Ecology.
1351-1358.
2003
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Abrupt climate change.
Science.
2005-2010.
2003
- Supply of and demand for atmospheric sciences professionals. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 170-173. 2003
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Bad weather? Then sue the weatherman! Part I: Legal liability for public sector forecasts.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
1791-1799.
2002
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Bad weather? Then sue the weatherman! Part II: Legal liability for private sector forecasts.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
1801-1807.
2002
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Science policy: Policy, politics and perspective - The scientific community must distinguish analysis from advocacy..
Nature.
367-368.
2002
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Weather Impacts, Forecasts, and Policy: An Integrated Perspective.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
393-403.
2002
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Discretion without Accountability: Politics, Flood Damage, and Climate.
Natural Hazards Review.
157-166.
2001
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Ecological Forecasts: An Emerging Imperative.
Science.
657-660.
2001
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Extreme Events: A Research and Policy Framework for Disasters in Context.
International Geology Review.
406-418.
2001
-
Room for doubt.
Nature.
151-151.
2001
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Precipitation and damaging floods: Trends in the United States, 1932-97.
Journal of Climate.
3625-3637.
2000
-
Policy history of the US Global Change Research Program: Part II. Legislative process.
Global Environmental Change.
133-144.
2000
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Turning the Big Knob: An Evaluation of the Use of Energy Policy to Modulate Future Climate Impacts.
Energy and Environment.
255-275.
2000
-
Policy history of the US Global Change Research Program: Part I. Administrative development.
Global Environmental Change.
9-25.
2000
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An introduction to trends in extreme weather and climate events: Observations, socioeconomic impacts, terrestrial ecological impacts, and model projections.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
413-416.
2000
-
Human factors explain the increased losses from weather and climate extremes.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
437-442.
2000
-
La Nina, El Nino, and Atlantic hurricane damages in the United States.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
2027-2033.
1999
- US trends in streamflow and precipitation: Using societal impact data to address an apparent paradox. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 1435-1436. 1999
- Nine fallacies of floods. Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change. 413-438. 1999
- Hurricane forecasting. Science. 1123-1123. 1999
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Prediction in the Earth sciences and environmental policy making.
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union.
309-309.
1999
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Who decides? Forecasts and responsibilities in the 1997 Red River flood.
Applied behavioral science review.
83-101.
1999
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Normalized hurricane damages in the United States: 1925-95.
Weather and Forecasting.
621-631.
1998
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Rethinking the role of adaptation in climate policy.
Global Environmental Change.
159-170.
1998
- Blurring the boundaries - Domestic and international ozone politics and lessons for climate change. International Environmental Affairs. 147-172. 1998
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Beyond basic and applied.
Physics Today.
42-46.
1998
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Reframing the US hurricane problem.
Society and Natural Resources.
485-499.
1997
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Policy for science for policy: A commentary on Lambright on ozone depletion and acid rain.
Research Policy.
157-168.
1997
- Societal aspects of weather: Report of the Sixth Prospectus Development Team of US Weather Research Program to NOAA and NSF. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 867-876. 1997
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Asking the right questions: Atmospheric sciences research and societal needs.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
255-264.
1997
- Effective US science continued - Reply. Science. 1218-1219. 1996
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Serving science and society: Lessons from large-scale atmospheric science programs.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
2445-2458.
1995
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THE CHANGING ECOLOGY OF UNITED-STATES SCIENCE.
Science.
1531-1532.
1995
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USABLE INFORMATION FOR POLICY - AN APPRAISAL OF THE US GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH-PROGRAM.
Policy Sciences: an international journal devoted to the improvement of policy making.
39-77.
1995
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SCIENTIFIC-INFORMATION AND GLOBAL CHANGE POLICY-MAKING .1. US GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH-PROGRAM - WHATS THE PROBLEM.
Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change.
315-319.
1994
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DATA ON AND METHODOLOGY FOR CALCULATING SPACE-SHUTTLE PROGRAM COSTS.
Space Policy.
78-80.
1994
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A REAPPRAISAL OF THE SPACE-SHUTTLE PROGRAM.
Space Policy.
133-157.
1993
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Sport research and the policy movement.
European Journal for Sport and Society.
135-152.
2021
editor of
Teaching
courses taught
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ENVS 3621 - Energy Policy and Society
Primary Instructor - Fall 2020
Examines how society makes decisions about energy, and how these decisions affect the environment and the economy. Uses tools from policy analysis, economics, and other disciplines to build an in-depth understanding of energy's role in U.S. contemporary society. Fulfills Cornerstone requirement of ENVS majors. Recommended prerequisites: ENVS 1000 and ENVS 3070 or PHYS 3070. Recommended corequisite: ENVS 3020. -
ENVS 4800 - Capstone: Critical Thinking in Environmental Studies
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020
Examines a specific environmental topic in depth, synthesizing information from complex and controversial issues. Different course sections present different topics. Fulfills capstone requirement for Environmental Studies major. Recommended prerequisites: ENVS 1000 and ENVS 3020. -
ENVS 5100 - Special Topics in Environmental Studies
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Spring 2021
A variety of topics not currently offered in curriculum; offered depending on instructor availability and student demand. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours, provided the topics vary. -
ENVS 5110 - Topics in Environmental Social Science and Humanities
Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
Covers various topics in the social sciences and humanities in environmental studies. -
ENVS 5120 - Topics in Quantitative Methods
Primary Instructor - Spring 2019
Covers a wide range of quantitative methods used in policy research and their applications. Topics may include decision-making under uncertainty, fundamentals of microeconomics, mathematics of economic efficiency, cost-benefit analysis, system optimization, budgeting, fundamentals or probability, risk assessment, risk perception, risk communication, and decision analysis. Includes practical exercises, as well as readings and discussion, of various strengths and weaknesses of the different methods. -
ETHN 3104 - Selected Topics in American Studies
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Critically examines American identity and experiences, past and present, focusing on ethnicity, gender, popular culture, and political culture. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: ETHN 2001.
Background
education and training
- Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder 1994
- M.A., University of Colorado Boulder 1992
- B.A., University of Colorado Boulder 1990
awards and honors
International Activities
global connections related to teaching and scholarly work (in recent years)
- Australia Country
- Austria Country
- Belgium Country
- Bermuda
- Brazil Country
- Canada Country
- Chile Country
- China Country
- Costa Rica Country
- Denmark Country
- France Country
- Germany Country
- Ghana Country
- India Country
- Israel Country
- Italy Country
- Japan Country
- Netherlands Country
- New Zealand Country
- Norway Country
- South Africa Country
- South Korea Country
- Spain Country
- Sweden Country
- Switzerland Country
- United Kingdom Country
- United States of America Country