From Nepal to North Carolina, environmental calamities are erasing entire populations, leaving those affected without options to reconstruct their lives.
In 2024, a GLOF, or glacial lake outburst flood, in Thame, Nepal, paired with Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, led to catastrophic landslides and flooding, displacing locals and ravaging communities. In both occurrences, those who survived faced the brutal reality of lost land.
Recipient of the esteemed 2025 Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Stephanie Smith has attentively monitored these catastrophes and is dedicated to discovering effective measures to address them more efficiently. For her, the profound similarities between these crises highlight the escalating intensity of climate change, revealing weaknesses in both global and U.S. disaster response strategies.
“Although GLOFs and hurricanes are distinct phenomena, they share a crucial aspect: both are increasingly frequent and intense as a result of climate change,” Smith remarked. “The devastation witnessed in the previous year makes it evident—we need to enhance our preparedness. By forming coalitions, exchanging strategies, and supporting one another, communities can be better equipped to endure these disasters. I have been preparing myself to contribute to this initiative during my time at U-M.”
Smith is in her final year of the LSA Honors Program, while also completing her first year of an accelerated master’s program at the School for Environment and Sustainability. With the support of SEAS faculty, she plans to take a one-year leave to pursue the fellowship and subsequently return to finish her graduate studies.
The U-M fellow intends to utilize the $25,000 Wallenberg grant to perform a comparative study on climate disaster communication methods related to flooding. She will initiate her research in North Carolina in early September and then proceed with her work in Nepal around December.
“My goal is to immerse myself among the community members who have encountered climate-induced natural disasters,” Smith noted. “By engaging in recovery activities and listening to the varied experiences in each location, I will gain insights into what each community was aware of, what they wish they had known, and what tools might have lessened the impact of the events on their lives.
“I understand that the best methods for communicating about these rapidly worsening natural disasters are likely to differ across regions. Considering that techniques for preparation and response are not uniform, evaluating the effectiveness of various programs across different communities will provide valuable insights to refine them.”
Smith has long held a passion for the intersection of climate change and water challenges, dedicating her undergraduate years to creating educational resources and outreach programs. She has instructed youth on hydrological systems through outdoor education initiatives and developed a course focused on local water issues for first-year students. Furthermore, she is organizing events this coming spring to teach professionals and families about water’s link to climate and equity.
Her experiences have enhanced her capability to engage with diverse audiences on environmental topics. However, following her study abroad last year, Smith’s ambition to expand her efforts in water communications deepened.
“My experiences away from Ann Arbor encouraged me to contemplate more rigorously about the impact I wished to make in the world,” she expressed. “For the first time, I grasped my role as a global citizen. I recognized a duty to extend my motivation for change beyond the recognizable, comfortable 28 square miles that had constituted my life for the majority of my existence.”
In each community she visits, Smith aspires to engage with individuals willing to share their narratives regarding climate-related disasters in various formats—be it recordings, written stories, artwork, or photographs. She aims to amplify these voices through collective collaboration and create a substantive archive that enhances connection and understanding among global communities confronting similar dilemmas.
Alongside this compilation, Smith intends to create a model to pinpoint critical gaps in disaster communication, providing insights that could assist in future preparedness actions.
While she aspires for her work to enhance communication and support initiatives related to climate disasters, her primary emphasis will be on listening, learning, and aiding recovery processes.
“It is possible that community members may opt not to share anything with me,” she reflected. “In such a scenario, I will have contributed to reconstruction during crucial times and acquired a deeper perspective on disaster response across different contexts. It will be a privilege to undertake this project, through all the changes and developments that I cannot yet foresee, under the Raoul Wallenberg fellowship and its remarkable legacy.”