Bob Loeffler is a professor at UAA’s Institute of Social And Economic Research (ISER), where he teaches courses on the mining industry as well as natural resource policy and public land management. Before ISER, he worked for Alaska’s department of natural Resources initially in 1996 as coordinator for the permitting of large mines, and for seven years as the Director of the Division of Mining, Land, and Water. After DNR, he took a job with Jade North, a consulting firm specialized in natural resource issues, where he works on mining, permitting, and policy issues for industry, local government, and Native Corporations.