Center News

Lisa Dilling Awarded NOAA-SARP Grant

Lisa Dilling’s NOAA-SARP proposal, Evaluating adaptive policies for urban water resource management: Interactions between short-term drought responses and long-term climate change adaptation strategies, has been recommended for funding.  The proposal is a collaborative effort among researchers at the University of Colorado (Lisa Dilling, PI, William Travis, Roberta (Bobbie) Klein, and Doug Kenney), NCAR (Olga Wilhelmi and Kathy Miller), and NOAA (Andrea Ray).  The project will examine through detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of selected municipal water systems how drought policies interact with both short-term drought and long-term climate change. It will ask whether adjustment today or in the past leads to more resilient systems across climate time scales.  It will also examine how more efficient and/or flexible water use may increase the need for, and value of, weather and climate information and technology.

Roger Pielke, Jr. Briefs Air Quality Commission about Climate Change and Effects on the Energy Industry

On February 18, Roger Pielke, Jr. briefed the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission, which has responsibility for regulating emissions into the air, about what Colorado would have to do to meet the Governor's goal for reduction of CO2 emissions. Roger told the commission that we are not likely to significantly reduce our demand for energy, which means that we will have to build many energy plants that do not burn carbon to meet the goal and keep our economy going.

Roger Pielke, Jr. Appeared on BBC Newsnight

Roger Pielke, Jr. appeared on BBC Newsnight with Professor Chris Field, the new head of IPCC Working Group II. See a clip of the video or read about it on Roger's blog.

Roger Pielke, Jr. Debates Muir-Woods and Ward

On February 5 Roger Pielke, Jr. participated in a debate with Robert Muir-Wood and Bob Ward, sponsored by the Royal Institution of Great Britain, about whether global warming has increased the losses from disasters. Listen to the debate or read about the debate.

Presidential Science Advisor Book to be Published Soon

Roger Pielke, Jr. and Bobbie Klein have edited a book based on the highly acclaimed Presidential Science Advisor lecture series held at CU-Boulder in 2005-06.  The book, Presidential Science Advisors: Perspectives and Reflections on Science, Policy and Politics, will be published in the next few months by Springer. 

From Springer’s website:  “This book will offer unique first-hand perspectives of the science advisors to the president, from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush.  It includes some very unique history (e.g., Edward David’s chapter provides perspective on how President Nixon used the science advisor for political purposes that have been reported nowhere else to our knowledge).  For the past 50 years a select group of scientists has provided advice to the US President, mostly out of the public eye, on issues ranging from the deployment of weapons to the launching of rockets to the moon to the use of stem cells to cure disease.  The role of the presidential science advisor came under increasing scrutiny during the administration of George W. Bush, which was highly criticized by many for its use (and some say, misuse) of science. This edited volume includes, for the first time, the reflections of the presidential science advisors from Donald Hornig who served under Lyndon B. Johnson, to John Marburger, the previous science advisor, on their roles within both government and the scientific community.  It provides an intimate glimpse into the inner workings of the White House, as well as the political realities of providing advice on scientific matters to the President of the United States. The reflections of the advisors are supplemented with critical analysis of the role of the science advisor by several well-recognized science policy practitioners and experts. This volume will be of interest to science policy and presidential history scholars and students.”

CSTPR is now on Facebook

The Center now has a facebook page. Here one can engage with Center alumni, graduate students, and research personnel, or learn more about research, announcements and upcoming events. To sign up click here.