Biography:

Joshua "Josh" Roering is an academic expert on landslide processes and soil erosion and he uses field observations, laboratory experiments, computer models, and remote sensing to conduct his investigations. His specialty is geomorphology, a discipline of geology that addresses the evolution of landscapes, including mountain building by tectonic and volcanic processes and erosion by rivers, glaciers, landslides, and other processes. Roering's research has led to fundamental insights on why many landscapes have an orderly appearance, with distinctive and evenly spaced valleys and ridges. He has also investigated the influence of land use practices, such as timber harvesting, on erosion and landscape dynamics.

Recent Media:

• Causes of Wrangell’s deadly 2023 landslide still coming to light (Alaska Public Media, Feb. 6, 2025)
• Woven Peoples and Place: Ḵutí expands across Southeast Alaska (Juneau Empire, Oct. 24, 2024)
• Deadly landslide strikes Ketchikan, Alaska (The New York Times, Aug. 26, 2024)
• After landslides killed three locals in Sitka, the Alaska city responded with science (WMRA/WEMC-FM/NPR, March 8, 2023)
• The devastating mudslides that follow forest fires (Nature, Jan. 12, 2022)
• What can Haines learn from Sitka's deadly landslide? (Chilkat Valley News, Dec. 17, 2020)
• Oregon Rain Brings New Threat After the Fires: Landslides (The New York Times, Sept. 18, 2020)
• Rain expected to suppress Oregon fires, could bring landslides, flooding and lightning to region (OPB, Sept. 17, 2020)
• Scientists look to the shaky future by probing lakes to learn from great quakes of the past (Northwest Public Radio, Sept. 19, 2019)
• Slowing of landslide flows reflects California's drying climate (EurekAlert, June 1, 2016)
• UO team opens window on landscape formation (OregonNews, July 2, 2015)
• As scientists examine landslide, questions about logging's potential role (National Geographic, April 4, 2014)
• Investigation into causes of Oso landslide underway (Nature World News, April 1, 2014)