Jim White is a Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and also in the Environmental Studies Program at CU. He is the Director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. He is the past Director of the Environmental Studies Program at CU, and helped to establish and grow that program during its first decade. He is the current Chair of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences.
His research interests are broad, but all revolve around human impacts on the environment. Specific areas of research include studying the global carbon cycle, both modern and in the past, and reconstructing past environmental conditions using ice cores. He is working now on new deep ice cores in Greenland as well as in Antarctica. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications, and is a highly-cited author in the geosciences.
At CU, Professor White teaches a large lecture class in Environmental Studies, as well as a course on energy, the carbon cycle, and climate change. He is actively engaged in exploring new paradigms of education in Environmental Studies, and has worked steadily to break down disciplinary barriers between the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, journalism, arts, and business to better train students in the area of environmental change.