Preventing Landslides in Uganda: GRS PhD student named first Moorman-Simon Civic Fellow

In June 2012, a landslide in eastern Uganda killed dozens and left hundreds homeless. Scores of people had been buried alive in a similar disaster in the region two years earlier. Climate change is expected to only increase the occurrence of landslides caused by heavy rains in the region.

Kira Sullivan-Wiley (GRS’16) is working to prevent such catastrophes by studying Ugandans’ awareness of the risks posed by landslides and other natural disasters and then forming solutions in partnership with agencies on the ground there that could save lives and livelihoods. A PhD candidate in the College of Arts & Sciences department of earth and environment, Sullivan-Wiley was recently awarded the 2014 Moorman-Simon Civic Fellowship for her research.