Ph.D. Student | 🌍 Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences | UCLA
NSF Graduate Research Fellow | UCLA Center for Diverse Leadership Fellow

Robert J. Dellinger (he/they) is an oceanic and atmospheric scientist whose work spans marine and terrestrial systems, with an interest in investigating how ecosystems patterns, processes, and and outcomes are shaped by both physical (e.g. changes in temperature) and social (e.g. policy decisions) drivers of environmental change. As a Ph.D student in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UCLA, Robert's research integrates biogeochemical proxies and ancient DNA to reconstruct long term environmental change and quantify shifts in community composition through time. Drawing on ecology and biogeochemistry through a critical theory lens, his research aims are to investigate how social systems and power shape ecosystem processes and, in turn, how changing environments will impact society. Robert previously attained an M.S. in Biology, a B.A. in International Relations, and a B.S. in Marine and Coastal Science, with training that emphasizes interdisciplinary methods and policy-informed research. He is currently a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, a UCLA Center for Diverse Leadership Fellow, and a NSF Science-Policy National Research Trainee. Additionally, Robert is committed to expanding access to academia for historically excluded communities and believes the pursuit of knowledge should be accessible to anyone guided by curiosity and wonder. As a researcher and educator, he is guided by an ethic of stewardship that insists we leave environments, academic and natural alike, better than we found them.

• Ph.D. Student, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
• M.S., Biological Sciences, California State University, Northridge
• B.S., Marine & Coastal Science & B.A. International Relations, University of California, Davis

• Global Change Biology
• Quantitative Ecology
• Biogeochemistry
• Climate Justice and Policy