Lauren Palermo

Lauren Palermo is a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landslide Hazards Program, where her work focuses on improving national landslide loss data collection, exposure analysis, and risk reduction efforts. She co-leads the Landslide Loss Interest Group within the National Landslide Hazard Risk Reduction Working Group, supporting collaboration across federal, state, academic, and practitioner communities to improve how landslide damages, losses, and impacts are documented and used.

Her current work includes developing and maintaining the National Landslide Damages and Losses Database, a national-scale effort to compile and standardize information on landslide-related fatalities, injuries, infrastructure impacts, and economic losses. This work emphasizes not only collecting loss records, but also translating fragmented reports into consistent, usable information that can support research, planning, and risk communication. She is also a master's student in geography at the University of Colorado Boulder, where her research examines how built-environment exposure to landslide hazards has changed over time in the United States.

Through both her USGS role and graduate research, Palermo is interested in building practical, transferable methods for improving landslide risk information and supporting more consistent national approaches to hazard loss data.