Pielke earned a B.A. in mathematics, an M.A. in public policy, and a Ph.D. in political science, all from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to his positions at CU-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 CU-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 WeatherData, Inc. from 2001 to 2006. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Linköping University and the Public Service Award of the Geological Society of America.
Professional writing
Pielke's 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. Shortly before the loss of Columbia he warned that loss of another shuttle was only a matter of time. He has also been critical of the space station program. Pielke has also written extensively on climate change policy. He has written that he accepts the IPCC view of the underlying science, stating, "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." He also states 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." On the issues of hurricanes and climate change he has argued that the trend in increasing damage from hurricanes is primarily due to societal and economic factors, rather than change in the frequency and intensity. A "Guide to Climate Skeptics" published by Foreign Policy notes that Pielke's published views have led to him being considered by some a "denier" of climate change and by others as an "alarmist". His views on the IPCC consensus on climate change have been widely criticized by scientists, including former US presidential science adviser John Holdren. Vincent Carroll defended Pielke in the Denver Post. In October 2016, in a hacked email disclosed by WikiLeaks, Judd Legum, the editor of ThinkProgress, a site that is part of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, states that a ThinkProgress blog helped to discredit Roger Pielke Jr. and get him fired from the FiveThirtyEight website. In April 2015, Pielke joined with a group of scholars in issuing An Ecomodernist Manifesto. The other authors were: John Asafu-Adjaye, Linus Blomqvist, Stewart Brand, Barry Brook. Ruth DeFries, Erle Ellis, Christopher Foreman, David Keith, Martin Lewis, Mark Lynas, Ted Nordhaus, Rachel Pritzker, Joyashree Roy, Mark Sagoff, Michael Shellenberger, Robert Stone, and Peter Teague. Pielke was named in a letter sent by Senator Edward Markey to numerous energy industry groups, asking them to disclose the names of scientists they had funded. Regarding conflict of interest disclosures, Pielke said that "if you look at our community, the failure to disclose conflicts of interest is fairly endemic."
Publications
Editor, with Daniel Sarewitz and Radford Byerly Jr., Prediction: Science, Decision Making, and the Future of Nature, Island Press; New title edition, hardcover, 400 pages,
