Alice Pennaz is a qualitative social scientist the U.S. Geological Survey's Natural Hazards Mission Area in Reston, Virginia. She is currently a part of a U.S. Geological Survey team that works to identify risk to the Department of Interior's lands. Alice is currently engaging with Tribal emergency managers to better understand how hazard exposure data can best inform planning and preparedness. She also supports the Science for Disaster Reduction Interagency Working Group in fostering cross-government collaboration in disaster risk reduction activities, and in acting as the U.S. Focal Point to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's Sendai Monitor.
Alice's interdisciplinary approach is informed by her research on environmental and human security in relationship to protected areas both in Northern Cameroon and in the Pacific West Region of the United States. Previous to joining the U.S. Geological Survey in her current role, Alice was American Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology Policy fellow in the U.S. Geological Survey's Natural Hazards Mission Area, a National Science Foundation Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Postdoctoral Fellow at U.C. Berkeley, and served in the United States Peace Corps in northern Cameroon as an agroforestry/ecotourism volunteer. Alice earned her PhD in environmental science, policy, and management at the University of California at Berkeley.