Biography

Tricia Wachtendorf is a Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware with a joint appointment in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. She directs the world-renowned Disaster Research Center – the oldest center in the world focused on the social science and management 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. She 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 household and emergency management decision-making, investigate humanitarian logistics during disaster response, and explore stigma and role triage in the aftermath of public health emergencies, aspects of surprise. She is the co-author of American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11. 

Degrees

PhD, University of Delaware, 2004

MA, University of Delaware, 2000

BA, University of Manitoba, 1996

​Research Interests

Improvisation; decision-making; multi-organizational coordination before, during and after disasters; transnational crises; and social vulnerability to disaster events