Teresa (Terry) Jordan is a sedimentary geologist known for her research on the geology and hydrology of the Atacama Desert and the use of water and geothermal heat from sedimentary rocks.
[3] Following her Ph.D. she moved to Cornell University initially in a research position, and then she joined the faculty in 1984 where she was named the J. Preston Levis Professor of Engineering in 2005.
[4] In 2014, Jordan was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and the citation was "for integration of geodynamic principles and stratigraphic data that has led to understanding of the coupling of continental basins to mountain belts.
In Chile, she works on the climate and hydrology of the Atacama Desert,[6][7] with a particular focus on the impact of large rainfall events on the region.
[9] More locally, Cornell University is working to use geothermal heat as an energy source, and Jordan is co-investigator on the effort to drill a research borehole to inform the project about the region's geologic conditions.