Tricia Wachtendorf

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 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 crisis, 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 as well as disaster convergence. Wachtendorf's most recently funded research projects examine the temporal nature of household and emergency management decision-making during hurricane events, investigating humanitarian logistics during disaster response, and exploring stigma and the role of triage in the aftermath of public health emergencies.​​