Biography

​Tricia Wachtendorf is a professor of sociology with a joint appointment in the Biden School, and director of the world-renowned Disaster Research Center—the oldest center in the world focused on the social science aspects of disaster. Over the past two decades, her research has focused on multi-organizational coordination before, during, and after disasters, transnational crises, and social vulnerability to disaster events. Dr. Wachtendorf has engaged in quick response fieldwork after such events as the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, the tsunamis affecting India, Sri Lanka (2004) and Japan (2011), Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012), the earthquakes in China (2008) and Haiti (2010), as well as the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. With numerous research grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, she has published widely on improvisation in disasters as well as disaster convergence. Her most recently funded research projects examine the temporal nature of household and emergency management decision-making during hurricane events, investigate humanitarian logistics during disaster response, and explore stigma and the role triage in the aftermath of public health emergencies.

​Research Interests

​Multi-organizational coordination before, during and after disasters, transnational crises, and social vulnerability to disaster events.