Welcome! 

My research addresses the social and ethical problems that emerge alongside weather and climate hazards. As an assistant professor at Texas Tech, I employ multiple methods to better understand the various dimensions of harm and capacity that co-occur in disasters. I learn from practitioners about how they conduct the day-to-day operations of keeping people safe from severe weather; I learn from different publics about the challenges they face in preparing for and staying safe during disasters. As a geographer, I examine the spatiotemporal dimensions of vulnerability and resilience and I write about the historical people who influence forecasting today. In sum, I emphasize in my work different technical, ethical, and sociopolitical issues that arise as hazards and society interact.

My background

I have been fascinated with weather since I was twelve-years-old when I saw a waterspout flit across the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I had never seen anything so delicate and powerful before. Ever since then, I've found myself drawn to the the impacts of the sky, whether it's a simple summer thunderstorm flooding the streets near my childhood home, the irrigated landscapes of Northern Utah where I was raised, or a massive tornadic supercell spinning like a top over the red dirt of Oklahoma.

Before returning to graduate school, I studied creative nonfiction at Goucher College, where I received my MFA. Today, I continue these interests with non-traditional biography of Dr. "Ted" Fujita, contracted with the American Meteorological Society. My most recent essay about my experience storm chasing with a group of Virginia Tech undergraduate meteorology students, "What We Chase," is available in the autumn 2013 issue of The American Scholar.

To learn more, check out my CV.

Have a question? Want to chat?

Contact: jen.henderson@ttu.edu