2023 Natural Hazards Workshop Award Winners

Disability and Disasters Award

The Disability and Disasters Award supports people with disabilities working in disasters, as well as those who care for, study, or advocate on behalf of those with disabilities. Award funds will allow the recipient to attend the annual Natural Hazards Workshop and the Researchers or Practitioners Meetings that follow. The 2023 winner is:

Alina Engelman is an associate professor of public health at California State University, East Bay. Her scholarly work focuses on health disparities for the deaf and disabled, including emergency preparedness and response and global disability justice in climate disasters. Other work explores the emergency preparedness and response role of community-based organizations serving older adults and people with disabilities in Puerto Rico. Engelman received her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley; her Master of Public Health in global health from Yale University; and her bachelor’s at Brown University.

To see a list of all previous winners, please click here: Disability and Disasters Award Winners

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Student Paper Competition

The Natural Hazards Center created the Annual Hazards and Disasters Student Paper Competition for undergraduate and graduate students in 2004 as a way to recognize and promote the next generation of hazards and disaster researchers. The 2023 winners are:

Undergraduate Winner

Nyla Howell is a senior at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). As a UMBC Ronald E. McNair Scholar, she is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and sociology. Howell has interned at her county office of emergency management and Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individual and Community Preparedness Division, as well as serving as a co-chair of FEMA's National Youth Preparedness Council from 2017 to 2019. Throughout these experiences, Howell developed a deeper interest in hazard preparedness, social vulnerability, and community resilience. During her undergraduate studies, she has had the opportunity to engage in business climate resilience research at Rutgers University and disaster health research at UMBC. Currently, she is a 2023 summer scholar for the National Science Foundation Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic Prosperity, and Resilience (CHEER) Hub led by the University of Delaware and East Carolina University. In the future, Howell hopes to pursue a PhD focusing on hazard studies and work with historically underserved communities to promote equitable hazard preparedness and community resilience programs.

The Impact of Corporeal Markers on Natural Hazard Preparedness During Hurricane Katrina

Graduate Winner

Nahuel Arenas is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Global Ethics of the University of Birmingham and is chief of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) regional office for the Americas and the Caribbean. For more than 20 years, Arenas has led humanitarian assistance interventions, disaster risk reduction (DRR) programming, and development cooperation in different countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region.

Before joining UNDRR, Arenas was director for humanitarian programs and policy at OXFAM USA. He has also worked for the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Action Against Hunger, and consulted for UN-Habitat, leading DRR intervention learning processes. He has also contributed to many capacity building programs including the Harvard X/Harvard Humanitarian Initiative course Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disasters. He has a background in public policy and international politics, as well as degrees in crisis management from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid.

Slow Action as a Moral Wrong: The Abolition of Slavery and the Fight Against Climate Change

Learn more about the competition and view previous winning papers on the Student Paper Competition page.

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Mary Fran Myers Scholarship Winners

The Mary Fran Myers Scholarship recognizes outstanding individuals who share Myers' commitment to disaster research and practice and have the potential to make a lasting contribution to reducing disaster vulnerability. The 2023 winners are:

Marysel Pagán Santana is the director of environmental and occupational health for the Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN). She is also the senior program manager of the Caribbean Office, where she leads and coordinates MCN climate projects. In this role, Pagán Santana provides technical assistance, training, and tool development that help community health centers and residents address disaster issues and target health outcomes.

Amber Shumpert is the currently working on a PhD in business administration with a specialization in homeland security policy and leadership. Her focus on demonstrating a link between natural disasters, climate change, and homeland security, with the goal of elevating the political importance of these topics. Shumpert is currently the regional safety officer for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) where she focuses on occupational safety and hazards and is liaison to the local department of emergency management.

Read more about the 2023 winners as well as past scholarship recipients on the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship Winners page.