Dr. Robert Anderson is a professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. He joined the CU faculty in 2003 in Geological Sciences and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), having taught at UC Santa Cruz since 1988. As a geomorphologist, his research is focused on the evolution of landscapes, and the processes that govern their evolution. Over much of the last 20 years he and his graduate students have been studying high alpine and Arctic landscapes, which means dealing with ice. He has worked on permafrost, on the coastal cliffs that bound the sea-ice laden Arctic ocean, and on glaciers big and small. His research combines documenting the pace of landscape change using cosmogenic radionuclides, measuring the real-time patterns and rates of glacier motion and erosion, and development of numerical models of evolving landscapes. Most broadly, he is motivated by trying to understand how patterns in Nature arise, from sand ripples to glacial valleys. In his teaching he is dedicated to illuminating students about how to read landscapes, how our science works, and how the present climate is driving recent rapid change.
