Dennis Wenger

National Science Foundation, Retired

Dennis Wenger is the former program director for Infrastructure Systems Management and Extreme Events at the National Science Foundation (NSF). During his time at NSF, he also served as the acting program director for the Civil Infrastructure Systems program. He had previously been at NSF from 2001-2005. Wenger was a professor at Texas A&M University from 1989-2007. At Texas A&M, he was a professor of urban and regional science and an adjunct professor of sociology. He was also the founding director and senior scholar of the Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center. Prior to his arrival at Texas A&M in 1989, Wenger was on the faculty of the University of Delaware where he served as co-director of the Disaster Research Center from 1984-1989. He was among the first group of researchers trained at the Disaster Research Center when it was located at The Ohio State University.

Wenger has been engaged in research on hazards and disasters for more than 45 years. His research has focused on the social and multidisciplinary aspects of natural, technological and human-induced disasters. Topics his research addresses include local emergency management capabilities and response, police and fire planning and response to disasters, search and rescue and the delivery of emergency medical services, mass media coverage of disasters, warning systems and public response, factors related to local community recovery success, and disaster beliefs and emergency planning. He undertook the only empirical study of the evacuation of the World Trade Center towers after the first terrorist attack in 1993, and served as the principal investigator for the first project to “enable the future generation of hazard researchers.” He is the author of numerous books, research monographs, articles and papers.