The Water Desk operates with the help of University of Colorado Boulder staff, faculty and students, as well as outside contributors. If you’re interested in contributing to The Water Desk, please contact us.
Directors and Staff
Luke Runyon
Co-Director, The Water Desk
Luke Runyon is co-director of The Water Desk, a journalism initiative at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism that focuses on Western water issues and the Colorado River Basin. In 2017 he launched the Colorado River Reporting Project at KUNC, the NPR station for Northern Colorado, where he hosted and reported the podcast, “Thirst Gap: Learning To Live With Less On The Colorado River.” He served as president of the Society of Environmental Journalists from 2022-2024.
309-219-1580 | luke.runyon@colorado.edu | Twitter | Instagram | Threads | Website
Mitch Tobin
Co-Director, The Water Desk
Mitch Tobin is co-director of The Water Desk, a journalism initiative at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism that focuses on Western water issues and the Colorado River Basin. From 1998 to 2006, Mitch covered water, environmental, and other issues for the Napa Valley Register, Tucson Citizen, and Arizona Daily Star. His 2010 book, Endangered: Biodiversity on the Brink, analyzes the impact of the Endangered Species Act and won a gold medal in the Independent Book Publisher Awards.
303-330-9487 | mitchtobin@colorado.edu | Twitter | Instagram | Website | Posts
Thomas Yulsman
Director, Center for Environmental Journalism
Tom Yulsman directs the Center for Environmental Journalism and is a professor in the Department of Journalism. He keeps an active journalistic career going by covering climate change, weather, and other topics in the Earth and environmental sciences for major magazines and online publications. He writes regularly for Discover Magazine, where he runs ImaGeo, a visual blog he created that focuses on the intersection of imagery, imagination, and planet Earth. His book, “Origins: The Quest for our Cosmic Roots,” covers the origin and evolution of the universe, from the big bang to life. Before joining CU in 1996, Yulsman was editor-in-chief of Earth magazine. In addition to Discover, his work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Audubon, bioGraphic, Climate Central, and others.
Yulsman received his MS degree in 1980 from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and a BA in environmental studies in 1977 from Harpur College of the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Geoff McGhee
Graphics and Data
Geoff McGhee specializes in interactive data visualization and multimedia storytelling. He is a veteran of the multimedia and infographics staffs at The New York Times, Le Monde and ABCNews.com. Geoff spent a Knight Fellowship year at Stanford in 2009-2010 researching data visualization, which resulted in the widely-cited video documentary “Journalism in the Age of Data.”
Geoff spent nearly nine years at Stanford’s Bill Lane Center for the American West, overseeing its websites and digital publications, such as the ‘…& the West’ blog with Felicity Barringer, and the EcoWest series of environmental data trackers on wildfires, drought, and snowpack, among others.
Cassie Sherwood
Intern
Cassie Sherwood began working for The Water Desk as a master’s student in the journalism program at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and Marine Biology from Northwest Missouri State University. Her research focused on a variety of environmental topics, particularly within wildlife management and biodiversity. During her undergraduate studies, she developed her passion for science communication and environmental reporting. Cassie is currently reporting on western water issues and the Colorado River Basin for The Water Desk.