About Me

updated Apr 2024

My most recent CV (Jan 2023) can be found here. Here is a professional bio:

Roger Pielke, Jr. is concurrently a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Roger been on the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder since 2001, where he is currently a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. Roger teaches and writes on a diverse range of policy and governance issues related to science, technology, environment, energy, climate, innovation and sports.

In 2024, Roger was elected to membership in the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 2022, Roger was on sabbatical at the University of Oslo where he helped the university develop a pandemic research center. Roger is also an Honorary Professor at University College London, awarded in 2022.

Roger also oversees a popular Substack —The Honest Broker — where he is experimenting with a new approach to research, writing and public engagement. The Honest Broker has more than 22,000 subscribers in all 50 states and in 150 countries. Roger is frequently called upon by governments businesses, universities, sport governance organizations and others around the world as a speaker and policy advisor. His research at the intersection of science, policy, and politics is widely cited in multiple fields. Roger’s most recent NSF grant focused on science advice in the pandemic across the world.

Roger holds degrees in mathematics, public policy and political science, all from the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2012 Roger was awarded an honorary doctorate from Linköping University in Sweden and was also awarded the Public Service Award of the Geological Society of America. In 2006, Roger received the Eduard Brückner Prize in Munich, Germany in 2006 for outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary climate research.

Roger has been a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan since 2016 and a Research Associate of Risk Frontiers, in Sydney, Australia, since 2017. Roger was a Fellow of the NOAA/CU Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences from 2001 to 2016. He served as a Senior Fellow of The Breakthrough Institute from 2008 to 2018. In 2007, Roger served as a James Martin Fellow at Oxford University’s Said Business School. Before joining the faculty of the University of Colorado, from 1993 to 2001 Roger was a Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

At the University of Colorado Boulder, Roger founded and directed the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research (2002-2020) and the Sports Governance Center (2016-2019). He also created and led the university’s Graduate Certificate Program in Science and Technology Policy (2003-2020), which has seen its graduates move on to faculty positions, Congressional staff, the White House, presidential political appointees and in positions in business and civil society. Roger also led the development of the University of Colorado Boulder’s graduate program in Environmental Studies that was focused on environmental policy (2002 to 2015).

His books include Hurricanes: Their Nature and Impacts on Society (with R. Pielke Sr., 1997, John Wiley, full text free as PDF), Prediction: Science, Decision Making and the Future of Nature (with D. Sarewitz and R. Byerly, 2001, Island Press), The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics published by Cambridge University Press (2007), The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won’t Tell you About Global Warming (2010, Basic Books). Presidential Science Advisors: Reflections on Science, Policy and Politics (with R. Klein, 2011, Springer), and The Edge: The War Against Cheating and Corruption in the Cutthroat World of Elite Sports (Roaring Forties Press, 2016). His most recent book is The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters and Climate Change (2nd edition, 2018, Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes).

13 thoughts on “About Me

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  1. Roger –

    Read your post on BuffZone on athlete being trained in becoming professional. It’s such a complex subject, and I thought your piece was really well done. Best take I’ve seen in quite some time. Thanks for writing it.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Mr. Pielke. Listened to your talk on Manichean politics of climate debate. It was great. Made me think a lot. I was left with a lot of questions, but the two I think are most useful for you are:
    Are you familiar with Hayek’s writing on experts in governments and administration?

    You mention democracy a lot in your talk, but as I’m sure you are aware, the US is a
    republic with a constitutional form designed to deal with the flaws inherent of democracy.
    Your position didn’t seem to be informed by any wisdom within that distinction. You seem to
    agree that majority rules on everything is the best form of government. Is that correct?

    Best Wishes
    L
    Canada

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Hello Roger, and congratulations to you for the nice peer-reviewed paper, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to be included in the bibliography of the next IPCC report though!… 🙂

    Would it be possible to get a copy of it?
    Can’t find your e-mail address though… 😦

    Cheers.

    Roberto

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Dr. Pielke, I’ve followed your work for some time, particularly, the work that would have to be done to achieve net-zero by 2050 (which I know is absolutely impossible.)

    I viewed a video on Youtube of a Ted Talk by David MacKay (who is an advocate for green energy BTW), in which he discusses this idea as well, that it’s basically impossible for the UK to go net-zero, even by blanketing half the entire landmass of the UK and close shore areas with windmills. In his video, he points out that, in addition to this, UK per capita energy usage would have to be reduce drastically. (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0W1ZZYIV8o)

    My question is, has anyone thought about the impacts of windmills on local weather systems? You can’t get something for nothing, and if you extract energy from wind and convert it to power, that HAS to have an impact on climate/weather. Has anyone thought of this?

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Roger Pielke

    RE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2019/10/27/the-world-is-not-going-to-reduce-carbon-dioxide-emissions-by-50-by-2030-now-what/#6efc481b3794

    It’s amazing how few people will do the math. Politicians have no interest in long term climate changes, only getting re-elected.

    Our own approach is through economics — developing reliable sources of clean, cheap energy. The developing nations need much more electric power, and they will select the cheapest reliable source. We at ThorCon have finished the basic design for an emission-free liquid fission power plant that generates electricity at 3 cents/kWh, cheaper than from burning coal or LNG. We expect to sell them to the developing nations that are now planning 600 GW of coal-fired plants. Indonesia is our likely first customer.

    Please explore ThorConPower.com.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Re today’s article in the New York Times:
    In 1978, Evan Bayh would have been 23 years old and ineligible to serve in the US Senate. I believe the Bayh you refer to in discussing patent development would have been his father, Birch Bayh.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Senator Birch Bayh, not Senator Evan Bayh, authored the Bayh-Dole legislation.
    Years of service in U.S. Senate:
    Birch Bayh, 1963 – 1981
    Evan Bayh, 1999 – 2011

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Dr. Pielke – just a note from a Colorado alum, keep doing what you’re doing on climate. The CU administration should denounce the efforts of (the misnamed) Skeptical Science, Mann, Hayhoe, et al, and back your academic freedom. But alas, I don’t think they even back 1st Amendment freedom of speech anymore. And may your family take pride in your integrity. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Apropos your twitter post on risk for climate/weather deaths now vs 100 years ago: The risk a 100 years ago was 40 time higher than today, i.e. a 97.5% reduction (1 vs 40), not 99.75%.
    (The observation still holds, of course, but better to be correct.)
    Regards,
    /Johan

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is correct (as several people have pointed out on Twitter). There is a typo as I posted … 0.01 should be 0.10. Sorry about that. Math is easy, typing apparently difficult. A good case for a Tweet edit function.

      Liked by 1 person

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