Tess is a visiting scholar conducting postdoctoral research on coastal adaptation in the United States. Her research is funded by the NSF's Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Her research is situated at the intersection of the coastal zone and the built environment and strives to understand how adaptation decisions are being made. She is also interested in water security across scales, which was the topic of her doctoral dissertation. Over the last several years, she has consulted for the World Bank on topics ranging from water security to urban resilience.

Tess received her PhD in Geography and the Environment from the University of Oxford. She has a B.S. from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a M.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where she focused on sustainable design and the built environment. Prior to starting her PhD, Tess worked as a Construction Administrator and Sustainability Coordinator for an architecture and engineering firm in her home state of West Virginia. She holds a LEED AP, BD+C certification and Engineering in Training (EIT) certification.