Delores Robinson

Dr. Delores “D.” Robinson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama. She studies how mountain belts evolve in different tectonic environments from colliding plates to mature ranges by combining tectonics, structural geology, geochemistry, geochronology, sedimentology, petrology, and field mapping data. Much of her scientific pursuit involves studying the areas surrounding the world’s highest mountain peaks in the Himalaya through work in Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Tibet. In order to find the old history of that area, Delores explains, “we have to go to rocks that are of that age and study those rocks.” Delores likes both the physical and intellectual challenge involved in working in these locations. Delores says, “I want to know everything that is happening all the way from the high mountains down to the flat Indian plains. That requires that I traverse…multiple times so I can get a good idea about how that is constructed.” For her work, Delores often hikes for weeks, carrying her gear and supplies, along with rock samples she collects along the way in her backpack. D takes on the challenge of balancing research in some of the most remote places on earth with teaching and advising students at the University of Alabama and raising her 4 children with her husband in Tuscaloosa. Solving challenges is her motivation: “Things happen out there [in the field] that you don’t anticipate. You have to have plans A, B, C and D ready to go. There are always problems, but the challenge in working in these locations is to figure out your way around those problems.” Delores was recently highlighted in the University of Alabama’s Research magazine. Delores also has projects focusing on the development of the Appalachian Mountains in Alabama, the Cordillera Mountains in Montana, and the Gulf of Mexico.