Dr. Saha’s deeply engaged scholarship intersects environmental justice and health policy, emphasizing advocacy for marginalized communities. After he graduated from college, he worked for a multicultural environmental education center at Caritas Charities, north of San Francisco. He learned the value of being who you are. His experience working with a diverse group of children gave him hope that we can successfully build a multicultural movement.

He began his academic career at the University of Montana in 2003, following a post-doctoral fellowship position at the University of Michigan. In 2003, he received an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellowship. While an associate professor in Montana, he was also the vice chair board of directors for Montana Conservation Voters (MCV) from 2009 to 2018. The MCV advocates for strong conservation laws and to hold elected officials accountable for their votes and actions.

In 2012, Dr. Saha was the Recipient of the Sustainable Campus Committee Greening University of Michigan Award for outstanding participation in creating a sustainable campus. Dr. Saha was also the President of The Board of Directors for the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund (MCVEF) from 2018 to 2021. The MCVEF programs educate the public about critical environmental and public lands issues and promote greater non-partisan citizen involvement in the democratic process.

Dr. Saha’s commitment to improving community life and educating students about civic and social responsibility earned him the 2016 Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award. The award recognizes one faculty member for their “exemplary leadership in advancing student civic learning, conducting community-based research, fostering reciprocal partnerships, building institutional commitments to engagement, and enhancing higher education’s contributions to the public good” (Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award).

In 2015, Robin worked alongside environmental justice expert Paul Mohai at the University of Michigan. They analyzed more than 300 hazardous waste facilities nationwide between 1966 and 1995. In the first nationwide study of its kind, they examined community demographic makeup before and after each facility was sited.

They found that more facilities were being placed in disadvantaged communities and that the facility owners were choosing to locate in communities already transitioning to a population with fewer white residents, predominantly low-income families, and people of color. “Although we found some evidence of post-siting demographic changes, they were mostly a continuation of changes that occurred in the decade or two prior to siting,” the researchers wrote in an article in Environmental Research Letters (Mohai & Saha, 2015). Their findings suggest “neighborhood transition serves to attract noxious facilities rather than the facilities themselves attracting people of color and low-income populations” (Mohai & Saha, 2015).

Dr. Saha’s nationally recognized work shed light on the Flint water crisis in Michigan. He has been cited in Fortune Magazine, the Boston Globe, and Huffington Post. He has also been recognized for his local community-based participatory research, involving empowering disenfranchised communities to take active roles in data collection and advocacy to achieve significant environmental management improvements.

Dr. Saha has spent his career integrating his research and pedagogy into community activism and empowerment. He engages his students in real-world environmental problems and works with them to connect with the affected communities. In an interview with Dr. Saha conducted by The Indian Panorama, he said, “I especially enjoy enhancing the capacity and commitment of students, our future leaders, and community and university partners to work collaboratively to effect positive and lasting change” (2016).

In May 2021, Dr. Saha was named Program Director for the University of Montana’s Environmental Studies Program. His advice to students interested in pursuing the environmental field is to learn from what is happening in communities.