Associate Professor Tom Yulsman


Associate Professor Tom Yulsman taught Science Writing, Electronic Information Strategies and Carbon, Climate and Society. He is co-director of the School’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

“By the time the newsletter comes out, I will have completed most, if not all, of my book, ‘Origins: The Scientific Quest for Our Cosmic Roots & Place in the Universe.’ It will be published next winter by the Institute of Physics,” Yulsman said.

The book describes the latest scientific thinking on the origin of the universe, the origin of stars and planets, and the evolution of the early Earth into a life-sustaining environment, he said.

“Along the way, I profile several people doing groundbreaking work in these fields. My target audience is all those folks who have made Stephen Hawking a best-selling author but have not really understood much of what he wrote,” Yulsman said.

He also worked with colleagues in the Carbon, Climate and Society Initiative to launch a two-semester, interdisciplinary class for graduate students. The initiative is sponsored by the National Science Foundation through a $2.65 million grant. It integrates natural science, social science and journalism perspectives on key issues of global environmental change with an emphasis on the changing carbon cycle and climate system.

Faculty participating in the program represent nine CU departments and two research institutes, as well as the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, and the Boulder Daily Camera.

In March, Yulsman organized a round-table discussion on science and the media, which brought together media scholars, journalists, scientists and graduate students to discuss the media’s coverage of key scientific issues such as climate change. Tom.Yulsman@Colorado.edu