Exciting additions to our Boards!

Socolow is professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. From 2000 to 2019, Socolow and Steve Pacala were the co-principal investigators of Princeton’s Carbon Mitigation Initiative, a twenty-five-year (2001-2025) project supported by BP. His best-known paper, with Pacala, was in Science (2004): “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies.” That paper introduced the idea of “wedges,” quantitative measurements for identifying the level of effort associated with required climate mitigation strategies.

“I am delighted to welcome Rob Socolow back to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,” said Robert Rosner, chair of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board. “Rob’s work on Stabilization Wedges has had a profound impact on how we look at climate mitigation science and policies. His insistence that already-deployed technologies could be scaled up to reduce greenhouse gas emissions rates significantly should cause governments around the world to redouble their efforts to combat catastrophic climate change and inspire citizens everywhere to demand that they do so.”

Socolow was a member of the Science and Security Board from 2008 to 2013 and served as chair for the last two years of his term. The Board is composed of a select group of globally recognized leaders with a specific focus on nuclear risk, climate change, and/or disruptive technologies, and provides the organization with objective external perspective on trends and issues in these fields. Responsibilities include serving as the editorial advisory board of the Bulletin, setting the time of the Doomsday Clock, and tracking trends in global security.

Conn, who is joining the Bulletin’s Governing Board, is the Executive Director of Creative Santa Fe, a nonprofit organization dedicated to using collaboration and the power of the arts to reframe critical issues and drive positive change. Under her leadership, Creative Santa Fe has supported major community events on our shared nuclear future and the impact of climate disruptions.

“Cyndi Conn is widely regarded as a curator of art, ideas, and people,” said John Balkcom, chair of the Governing Board. “She has an extraordinary gift for connecting people to create experiences and partnerships they hadn’t known were possible, and I am delighted that she will be bringing that ability to the Bulletin.”

Conn serves on the Advisory Boards of The Black Mountain Institute, the National Parks Arts Foundation, and the N Square Innovators Network. She holds a master’s degree in Curatorial Studies and Arts Administration from Skidmore College in conjunction with the Tang Museum and a BA in Latin American studies from Tulane University.

The Bulletin’s Governing Board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organization and for ensuring the organization operates in a legal, ethical and professional manner.