Casey Michael Helgeson

Casey Michael Helgeson serves as Associate Research Professor at the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute within Pennsylvania State University's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Helgeson maintains dual affiliation as faculty in both the Philosophy Department and Rock Ethics Institute, reflecting a transdisciplinary research approach that bridges scientific and humanistic perspectives on climate issues.

Helgeson earned a PhD in Philosophy and BS in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, followed by postdoctoral positions at the London School of Economics and French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) before joining Penn State. This diverse academic background informs Helgeson's distinctive approach to climate risk research.

Helgeson's research centers on how values-based judgments interact with evidence-based science in climate risk management. Key contributions include developing frameworks for integrating ethical values into climate-risk assessment, analyzing confidence-precision trade-offs in scientific assessments, and creating values-informed mental models (ViMMs) to align research with stakeholder values. The work addresses fundamental questions about how uncertainty interacts with ethical considerations in climate science and decision-making.

Analysis of Helgeson's publication record reveals consistent focus on improving climate-risk research through attention to values, transparency, and interdisciplinary integration. Recent work emphasizes practical tools for flood-risk management, critiques of research transparency in climate science, and methodologies for decision-making under deep uncertainty. The research bridges philosophical foundations with practical applications in risk management.

Helgeson has participated in major collaborative initiatives including a seven-year, $12 million convergence project on sustainable climate risk management. This work examined how project-level emphasis on values affects research integration and professional development of early-career researchers, demonstrating Helgeson's commitment to improving research practices through attention to values.