Lauren is an Associate Professor of Practice in the College of Health with Oregon State University Extension Service in Hood River and Wasco Counties. She has been teaching disaster preparedness education courses since 2011 in the Columbia River Gorge. Lauren serves as an Oregon delegate to EDEN, the Extension Disaster Education Network, and is trained as a Community Emergency Response Team volunteer.

Lauren is also part of a team that developed an online Extension course called Preparing for the Cascadia Subduction Zone Event, which teaches participants how to prepare for and recover from the pending Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Lauren has also co-authored numerous publications in a series called “Creating a Culture of Preparedness: Survival Basics” that covers water, food, sanitation and hygiene, stress, and preparedness kits available to download on the OSU Extension website.

Most recently, Lauren’s work has focused on wildfire smoke preparedness, including leading community engagement efforts to install over 50 new air quality monitors across the Columbia River Gorge and operating the website SmokeReadyGorge.org.

Lauren is also a T1D mom to Perry, who was diagnosed in July of 2022 and is a multi-year GCC attendee. Since Perry's diagnoses, Lauren has focused her efforts on preparedness through the disability lens even more intentionally.