Bolinger is Colorado’s Assistant State Climatologist. In this role, she monitors Colorado climate, communicates climate information to the public, gives historical perspective to weather events and responds to media and data requests. Bolinger has led many of the Colorado Climate Center’s drought efforts, representing the CCC at stakeholder meetings.

She first came to CSU in 2009 as a graduate student in the Department of Atmospheric Science, where she studied the hydroclimate of the western U.S. – particularly the Upper Colorado River Basin. During her time as a graduate student, she worked closely with the CCC on drought assessment and early warning.

Bolinger received her Ph.D. from CSU in 2014. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Michigan, she returned to the CCC as a climatologist and drought specialist.