Communicator, Lecturer, and Practitioner-Researcher
Dr. Paula R. Buchanan
About Me
I am a disaster sociologist + socio-hydrologist. My work lies at the intersection of public health, sustainable drinking water access, and science communication and policy.
I have professional experience in risk communication, science communication, university-level instruction, business continuity, risk management, and project management.
As a water + data nerd, I am interested in (you guessed it) drinking water issues and data science, and the intersection of the two areas.
Check out part of my portfolio to learn more about me.
My Research
I focus on technology as a risk communication and messaging tool. I study public health, education, and outreach messaging about sustainable drinking water access.
Water is a limited resource that is required for all forms of life to exist
I am passionate about public education and outreach efforts—and the science communication messages that they should contain—to more effectively educate diverse populations about drinking water, its supporting green and built infrastructures, and the human impacts on the water cycle.
I seek to understand how the use of technologies as communication tools influence the effectiveness of drinking water messaging in urban, marginalized, and minoritized communities.
As a socio-hydrologist, my research focuses on how people interact with drinking water systems, and human behavior’s impact on these systems that support the drinking water that we receive to sustain our lives.