Deborah Bathke is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Meteorology-Climatology Program of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is affiliated with the National Drought Mitigation Center.   Deborah received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D from The Ohio State University in 2004. Prior to relocating to UNL in 2008, she served as the assistant state climatologist in New Mexico, where she chaired the state’s Drought Monitoring Working Group, served as a member of the Climate Change Water Resources Impact Working Group, and was an investigator in the Climate Assessment for the Southwest program. Deborah currently serves as a member of the Program Implementation Team and co-chairs the Engaging Preparedness Communities Technical Working Group of the National Integrated Drought Information System. She was also a lead author on Nebraska’s recently released climate change report, “Understanding and Assessing Climate Change:  Implications for Nebraska.” Her current research interests include the development and evaluation of climate information and decision-support tools; capacity building for climate resiliency; and public participation, education, and engagement in drought planning.