Frances Davenport is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. Her research focuses on the impacts of climate change on extreme weather events and water resources. She studies how climate change intensifies phenomena like extreme precipitation, flooding, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. Moreover, she analyzes the socioeconomic costs associated with these changes, particularly focusing on flood disasters.  

Davenport’s work has been published in journals such as Water Resources Research, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Geophysical Research Letters. She earned her undergraduate degree in engineering sciences from Dartmouth College and completed her Ph.D. in earth system science at Stanford University after working as a civil engineer with a focus on surface water management.