Roger A. Pielke, Jr.

Infobox_Scientist
name = Roger A. Pielke, Jr.

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image_width = 140px
caption = Dr. Pielke
birth_date = Birth date and age|1968|11|2|mf=y
birth_place = United States
death_date =
death_place =
residence = United States
citizenship = American
field = Political science, Science and Technology Policy
work_institution = University of Colorado at Boulder, Oxford University's James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, NCAR [http://www.isse.ucar.edu/ Environmental and Societal Impacts Group]
alma_mater = University of Colorado at Boulder (B.A. 1990; M.A. 1992; Ph.D. 1994)
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = public policy and science, politicization of science, environment-society interactions
prizes = Eduard Brueckner Prize (2006), NRC Board on Ocean Sciences Roger Revelle Commemorative Lecturer (2006), Sigma Xi Distinguished Lectureship Award (2000)
religion =
footnotes = Father Roger A. Pielke, atmospheric scientist (land and sea interactions with atmosphere, atmospheric dynamics, climate change)

Roger A. Pielke, Jr. (born November 2, 1968) is a professor in the Environmental Studies Program and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) where he served as Director of the [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu Center for Science and Technology Policy Research] at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 2001 to 2007. Pielke is currently a visiting scholar at Oxford University's James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization [http://www.martininstitute.ox.ac.uk/jmi/] in the Said Business School. His interests include understanding the politicization of science, decision making under uncertainty, and policy education for scientists in areas such as climate change, disaster mitigation, and world trade.

Professional background

Pielke earned a B.A. in mathematics (1990), a M.A. in public policy (1992), and a Ph.D. in political science, all from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to his positions at UC-Boulder, from 1993 to 2001 he was a staff scientist in the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. From 2002 to 2004 Pielke was Director of Graduate Studies for the UC-Boulder Graduate Program in Environmental Studies and in 2001 students selected him for the Outstanding Graduate Advisor Award. Pielke serves on numerous editorial boards and advisory committees, retains many professional affiliations, and sat on the Board of Directors of [http://www.weatherdata.com/ WeatherData, Inc.] from 2001 to 2006.

Personal life

Roger is married with three children and resides in Boulder, Colorado.

On climate change

Pielke has written extensively on climate change policy. As a starting point he accepts the IPCC view of the underlying science:: "The IPCC has concluded that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity are an important driver of changes in climate. And on this basis alone I am personally convinced that it makes sense to take action to limit greenhouse gas emissions." [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-2466-2006.09.pdf] but he argues that:: "Any conceivable emissions reductions policies, even if successful, cannot have a perceptible impact on the climate for many decades"and from this he concludes that: "In coming decades the only policies that can effectively be used to manage the immediate effects of climate variability and change will be adaptive." (see also [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-2506-2007.11.pdf] ; and argued as long ago as 1998 [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-161-1998.13.pdf] ).

On the issues of hurricanes and climate change he has argued that the trend in increasing damage from hurricanes is primarily due to societal factors rather than change in the frequency and intensity [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-1688-2005.25.pdf] .

On the space shuttle and station

His early work was on the Space Shuttle program. In 1993 he argued that the shuttle was expensive and risky - that it was "probable" that another orbiter would be lost within 20-35 flights [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/1993.03.pdf] (approximately 60 flights passed before the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia). Shortly before the loss of Columbia he warned that loss of another shuttle was only a matter of time [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-28-2002.20.pdf] .

He has also been critical of the space station program [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/1992.01.pdf] .

Media appearances and writings

Pielke was invited to write for "Regulation" [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/archives/science_policy_general/000784a_new_article.html] , a magazine published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank [http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv29n1/v29n1-4.pdf] . Pielke has also published articles in Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/publications/show_all_pubs.html?sortBy=author&showAllRecords=true&action=Search] . He also appeared in a Fox News special "Global Warming: The Debate Continues", that featured several prominent global warming skeptics and industry consultants [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195877,00.html] . He has also appeared multiple times on CNN, The Weather Channel, and in many other media outlets [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/outreach/news.html] . For his own part, Pielke characterizes his political views as "consonant with those of the Blue Dog Democrats who argue that "the stale extreme left vs. right approach requires a breath of fresh air" [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/about_us/meet_us/roger_pielke/about.html] . Pielke's views are cited by conservatives [http://epw.senate.gov/fact.cfm?party=rep&id=264568] [http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2006/06/01/smeared-by-krugman/] [http://www.reason.com/news/show/32958.html] and liberals [http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4502] [http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/hurricanes-and-climate-change.html] . In January, 2007 when the Government Oversight and Reform Committee of the U.S. Congress, led by Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), initiated hearings on political interference into the work of government scientists by the Bush Administration, Pielke testified that politics and science have a long history of being intermixed at the highest levels of government. In his written testimony Pielke described the Bush Administration's behavior as "ham-handed," "overbearing," and indicative of "hyper-controlling strategies for the management of information" [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-2504-2007.10.pdf] . Pielke also criticized a memo prepared for the hearing by Rep. Waxman's staff as reflecting the same dynamics underlying the behavior of the Bush Administration [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-2504-2007.10.pdf] . His testimony was invited by Republican staff of the committee [http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=16] .

Publications

Pielke is author, co-author or co-editor of five books, most recently " [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/publications/special/honest_broker/index.html The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics] " (2007, Cambridge University Press).

See also

* Roger A. Pielke (atmospheric scientist; his father)

External links

* [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/about_us/meet_us/roger_pielke/ UC-Boulder homepage]
* [http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/ "Prometheus"] - blog discussing science policy issues with frequent posts from Dr. Pielke
* [http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv29n1/v29n1-4.pdf Roger Pielke Jr., When Scientists Politicize Science, "Regulation", Spring 2006] .
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roger_Pielke_Jr. SourceWatch entry for Roger Pielke Jr.]