Shanna McClain

Shanna McClain
Program Manager, Disasters
Dr. Shanna N. McClain is Program Manager for the NASA Earth Action Disasters program at Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this role, she leads a dynamic team that drives the development and integration of Earth science for disaster risk reduction, response, recovery, and resilience. Dr. McClain has contributed extensively to international programming on the intersection of environmental change and human security, culminating in the creation of NASA Lifelines, a consortium dedicated to the integration of Earth science into humanitarian development. In 2025, she received the Exceptional Service Medal for her leadership in designing and launching the NASA-wide Disasters team.
Dr. McClain also serves as the applications scientist for multiple missions, including the joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, the Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission, the Landslide Change Characterization Experiment (LACCE) mission, and the Next-Generation Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR-NG) mission.
Dr. McClain joined NASA in 2017 as an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow, aiding the Earth Science Division in defining its role in resilience. She later served as the Earth Science Division’s Global Partnerships Manager and Program Manager to the NASA Applied Sciences Valuables. These activities involved leading private sector engagements to bring NASA capabilities to global communities and amplifying the societal and economic benefits of Earth science information.
From 2009-2022, she served as a Visiting Scientist with the Environmental Law Institute, where she helped lead programming on migration and displacement and analyzed topics related to environmental conflict and peacebuilding. She also worked with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UN Environment Programme Joint Environmental Emergencies Unit on the integration of environmental considerations in sudden-onset and protracted humanitarian crises.
Dr. McClain earned an M.S. from Florida International University in Environmental Science and Policy and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science & Policy from Southern Illinois University. Her doctoral research examined the challenges of integrating three policy priorities – climate change adaptation, response to disasters, and resilience – into multilevel governance frameworks of international river basins.
An avid art, music, and film enthusiast, Dr. McClain has a particular passion for magical realism and surrealism. She is drawn to themes of complexity, discord, and peace in all aspects of life, fascinated by how tension and harmony shape the human experience.