Tricia Wachtendorf is a professor of sociology at the University of Delaware and director of the world-renowned Disaster Research Center, the oldest center in the world, which focuses on the social science aspects of disasters. Over the past three decades, her research has focused on multi-organizational coordination before, during, and after disasters, transnational crises, and social vulnerability to disasters. Wachtendorf has engaged in quick response fieldwork after such events as the 2001 World Trade Center attacks; COVID-19 (2020); the tsunamis affecting India, Sri Lanka (2004), and Japan (2011); Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012); as well as the earthquakes in China (2008) and Haiti (2010). With numerous research grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, she has published widely on improvisation in disasters, evacuation decision-making, and humanitarian logistics during disaster response.