Helen Greatrex

Helen Greatrex is an Assistant Professor of Geography and Statistics at Penn State University's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, with a joint appointment in the Department of Geography and Department of Statistics. She is also an Associate Faculty member at Penn State's Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS). Her work bridges the gap between remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and practical applications in weather risk management.

Her research focuses on how rainfall is measured and used for decision-making—from hazard through exposure and vulnerability to impact. She employs diverse methodologies including geostatistical analysis of satellite rainfall estimates and mixed methods research on weather impacts. Key research areas include weather risk management, geostatistics, uncertainty estimation, historical weather analysis, satellite rainfall estimation, index insurance, agricultural modeling, and social equity.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on East African climate applications, particularly in Kenya and Somalia, with significant contributions to understanding rainfall variability, disaster risk reduction, and humanitarian applications of satellite data. Her work demonstrates increasing interdisciplinary reach, connecting meteorology with public health, agricultural economics, and social vulnerability.

Greatrex actively teaches courses including GEOG-364 (Spatial Analysis) and STAT-462 (Applied Regression Analysis), emphasizing practical applications of geospatial and statistical methods. She is currently recruiting graduate students interested in forensic investigations into disasters, bibliometric mapping & AI, spatial regression and geostatistics, and humanitarian response using satellite rainfall data. Her research has practical applications in index insurance, drought management, and early warning systems, particularly in data-sparse environments across Africa.