Rob Dunbar in Indonesia

Rob Dunbar, whose research interests span climate change science and policy, marine ecology, glaciology, and biogeochemistry is the Keck Professor of Earth Sciences, a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education and a senior fellow of the Woods Institute at Stanford University. In September 2022, Rob joined the Doerr School of Sustainability, where he led the creation of the Stanford Oceans Department.

Professor Dunbar has been studying coral reefs throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans since 1977. He heads a Stanford research group that studies past, present, and future climate change as well as its impacts on oceanic and coastal environments. He also works regularly with the U.S. government as well as the United Nations and island nations in Oceana to develop and implement solutions to environmental and resource problems.

During our expedition, Professor Dunbar will speak about the islands, corals and marine environments of Indo-Pacific reef provinces. He will also address the geopolitics of sovereignty, fishing rights, and oil and gas exploration in the region we are visiting. Dunbar has traveled to the Indonesian reefs and sees this region as the epicenter of coral reef biodiversity.

• At Stanford: William Keck Professor of Earth Science; Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education; Senior Fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment

• Recipient of the Richard W. Lyman Award for exceptional volunteer service to the University

• Adjunct Professor, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

• BS, geology, University of Texas at Austin

• PhD, oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD