Biography

Dr. Robin Verble directs the Missouri S&T Ozark Research Field Station located south of Rolla in the Bohigian Conservation Area. She also directs the Environmental Science degree program.

She heads an interdisciplinary laboratory that investigates topics in human-environment interactions. Her projects explore how human management activities impact natural environments by asking questions about how prescribed burning impacts forest arthropod communities. She also explores how environmental disasters impact humans through work on wildland firefighter safety and health. Her work at field stations focuses heavily on mentorship of students and cultivating scientists, but also critically examines the role that leaders play in maintaining healthy and safe environments for students and participants at field stations.

Her lab is funded primarily by federal contracts. To date, she has advised 11 M.S. students and one Ph.D. student who have gone on to work at places such as the Army Corps of Engineers, United States Geological Survey, Tennessee Department of Public Works, and prominent national and international graduate programs.

At Missouri S&T, she teaches courses in Environmental Science, Fire Ecology, Biodiversity, Animal Behavior, Tropical Environmental Conservation, and Insect Biodiversity.

She is a member of the Entomological Society of America, Organization for Biological Field Stations and Association for Fire Ecology. She serves as an elected member of the Missouri Prescribed Fire Council and previously served on the Texas Prescribed Burn Board.