Jeannette Sutton, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and the Director of the Risk and Disaster Communication Center at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Sutton specializes in disaster and risk, with a primary focus on online informal communications, and public alerts and warnings disseminated via terse messaging channels. Much of her research investigates the evolving role of information and communication technology, including social media and mobile devices, for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

Dr. Sutton has held numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, as well as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Naval Research. Her research has been published in the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Proceedings of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management; Information, Communication, and Society; Health Communication, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She is also a current member of the Advisory Board for the National Construction Safety Team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and she is a UK-CARES Fellow in Science Communication.  Jeannette holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and completed her postdoctoral training at the Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.