Dr. Hanks is a structural geologist with an emphasis on the structural evolution of foreland fold-and-thrust belts. She is specifically interested in the map-scale and mesoscopic-scale structural behavior of the wide range of lithologies which can be found in a foreland fold-and-thrust belt, including both crystalline and sedimentary rocks. Her current research focuses on fracturing on detachment-folded carbonate rocks and implications for their reservoir behavior. Her past research has included: the distribution of present-day horizontal in situ stresses in the Colville basin of northern Alaska; reconstructing the crustal-scale evolution of northern Alaska; the structural evolution of the range front of northeastern Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and using SAR imagery in the structural analysis of fold-and-thrust belts in arctic region.