My interests and activities are broad, but all revolve around the theme of making the world (universe(s)?) a better place. I conduct research that combines science, engineering, and ethics to assess what, given present circumstances and particular ethical frameworks, might be the best thing(s) for us to be doing. I also develop teaching materials and approaches to help others in their efforts.
I am currently a PhD candidate in Pennsylvania State University's Geography Department and Rock Ethics Institute. My dissertation research, with advisor Bill Easterling, is on discounting, ethics, and climate change assessment. I also work on reducing global catastrophic risk, which is anything that could end human civilization or even cause human extinction.
CV: pdf
Contact info: sbaum [at] psu.edu
Networking: Facebook * LinkedIn * Twitter
At present I am particularly interested in networking with people who are or would like to be working on any aspect of global catastrophic risk.
Photos: html
Updates: Old Updates
30 Jan 2010: Check out the upcoming March 2010 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine for "Where have all the aliens gone? Sustainability may explain the absence of extraterrestrials", an article I wrote with Jacob Haqq-Misra. The article is based on our 'Sustainability Solution' to the Fermi Paradox (preprint (pdf)). At S&T's request we will not be posting preprints online. Buy the issue; it's a great magazine!
Upcoming Conferences:
Association of American Geographers, April 14-18, 2010, Washington, DC.
About this site: This site is kindly hosted by Knightsbridge Online. The formatting of this site was adapted from W3C's Starting with HTML + CSS page.
Created 15 Jun 2007 * Updated 30 Jan 2010