Taylor taught her climatology and, as a survivor of Robert Falcon Scott's 1910-1912 Terra Nova Expedition, inspired her interest in Arctic regions.
In 1980 she and Paul Hebert founded the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER) at the university.
[1] She wrote biographies of her teachers Griffith Taylor and C. W. Thornthwaite, and published several books on water and climate.
[7] Although she had travelled widely, Sanderson declared her "favourite place in the world" was Inverhuron on Lake Huron where she had a cottage.
[1] Sanderson died from breast cancer on 12 July 2010, survived by two daughters, a son, two step-daughters, and ten grandchildren.