[3] His stated research interests include radio surveys, the origin and evolution of neutron stars and supernova remnants, and active galactic nuclei.

He believes that it also selects the wrong fraction of smart people in society to play the important role of advancing knowledge and passing it on to the next generation.

[8] After being piloted in Fall 2003, it subsequently become part of the Core Curriculum of Columbia College, the university's undergraduate liberal arts and sciences division.

[3] In July 2011, Helfand took a leave of absence from Columbia and assumed the presidency of Quest University.

Helfand was motivated to develop the course because of what he believed to be "a large amount of misinformation" in the climate change debate.

In 2006, he signed a document written by the Washington DC office of the Center for Inquiry called the "Declaration in Defense of Science and Secularism".