From Nepal to North Carolina, climate disasters are wiping entire communities off the map, leaving survivors with nowhere to rebuild.

In 2024, a glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF, in Thame, Nepal, and Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina caused massive landslides and flooding, displacing residents and devastating communities. In both disasters, survivors were left with the harsh reality of lost land.

Winner of the 2025 Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Stephanie Smith has closely followed these devastations and is committed to finding solutions to better address them. For her, the striking parallels between these crises underscore the growing severity of climate change, exposing vulnerabilities in both global and U.S. disaster response efforts.

“While GLOFs and hurricanes are different events, they share a common factor: both are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change,” Smith said. “The past year’s devastation makes it clear—we must do more to prepare. Communities can better withstand these disasters by building coalitions, sharing strategies and supporting one another. I have been equipping myself to contribute to this effort during my time at U-M.”

Smith is completing her senior year in the LSA Honors Program, while also finishing the first year of an accelerated master’s program at the School for Environment and Sustainability. With the support of SEAS faculty, she will take a one-year leave of absence to pursue the fellowship and then return to complete her graduate studies.

The U-M fellow plans to use the $25,000 Wallenberg award to conduct a comparative case study on climate disaster communication efforts related to flooding. She will begin her research in North Carolina in early September before continuing her work in Nepal around December.

“I aim to live alongside members of these communities who have faced climate-related natural disasters,” Smith said. “In doing remediation work and hearing the diversity of experiences in each location, I will be able to understand what each community knew, what they wish they’d known, and what resources may have made the event less destructive in their lives.

“I recognize that best practices for communicating about these rapidly intensifying natural disasters are likely to vary across regions. Given that preparation and response approaches are not standardized, comparing programs’ efficacy for different communities will be a valuable way to understand and iterate on them.”

Smith has long been passionate about the intersection of climate change and water issues, dedicating her undergraduate years to developing educational materials and outreach initiatives. She has taught youth about hydrological systems through outdoor education organizations and designed a course on local water concerns for first-year students. She is now organizing events this spring to educate professionals and families on water’s connections to climate and equity.

Her experiences have strengthened her ability to engage diverse audiences on environmental issues. However, after studying abroad last year, Smith’s desire to extend her efforts in water communications broadened.

“My time away from Ann Arbor prompted me to think more concretely about the change I wanted to affect in the world,” she said. “For the first time, I understood my position as a global citizen. I saw a responsibility to expand my drive for change beyond the familiar, comfortable 28 square miles where I’d spent the bulk of my life.”

In each community she visits, Smith hopes to connect with individuals willing to share their experiences with climate-related disasters in various forms—recordings, written narratives, artwork and photographs. She aims to elevate these voices through open collaboration and create a meaningful archive that fosters connection and understanding across global communities facing similar challenges.

Alongside this collection, Smith plans to develop a model identifying key gaps in disaster communication, offering insights that could aid in future preparedness efforts.

While she hopes her work will contribute to improving climate disaster communication and aid efforts, her primary focus is to listen, learn and support recovery efforts.

“It is possible that community members will not choose to share anything at all with me,” she said. “In this case, I will have lent a hand toward rebuilding in a time of need and gained a better understanding of disaster response in varying contexts. It will be an honor to pursue this project, through all of the iterations and evolutions I cannot yet anticipate, under Raoul Wallenberg’s fellowship and tremendous legacy.”