Episode 30 with ​Professor Ronald G. Hellman

Professor Ronald G. Hellman discusses his family's ancestry and growing up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He also talks about his academic career and some projects he has been working on. Lastly, he talks about why he moved to the North Fork and some of the issues the community is facing. Episode was recorded February 22, 2024 Professor Hellman served as Founding Director of the Americas Center on Science and Society (ACSS) and was a  member of the doctoral faculty in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center from 1983 to 2016. He as well was Founding Director of the CUNY Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere.  A political scientist with degrees from Brooklyn College and New York University, he is co-founder of the research group IACERE, a multidisciplinary, multinational team of natural and social scientists that studies comparative ecosystems in the Americas, including the NY/NJ Harbor and Long Island estuaries. Professor Hellman also served as expert reviewer on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC). The international IPCC team's work was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He continues to focus his current research on the role of science and governance as agents of historical change in coastal and river ecosystems. He has received grants in support of his comparative ecosystem research from the Tinker, Hewlett, Revson and Ford foundations.  His publications include a number of books including: Terms of Conflict: Ideology in Latin American Politics;  Cities in Crisis: The Urban Challenge in the Americas;  Chile Littoral: Scientific Dialogue on Coastal Ecosystem; and Politics of Compromise: Coalition Government in Colombia, which was named an Outstanding Academic Book by the American Library Association.