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Catherine Nakalembe
Photograph via Wikimedia Commons
Science, Medicine & Engineering Landmark

Catherine Nakalembe

Uses satellites to see hunger coming

Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Uganda Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.

Why they are here

Her early-warning work in Karamoja meant eighty-four thousand people did not face the worst of a failed rainy season. Uganda gave her its highest civilian award for it.

Catherine Lilian Nakalembe is a Ugandan remote sensing scientist, associate research professor at the University of Maryland and Africa programme director for NASA Harvest.

Her work applies Earth observation and machine learning to smallholder farming, food security, early warning and disaster assessment, beginning in Uganda and extending to Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. Early warning from her research meant some eighty-four thousand people in Karamoja avoided the worst effects of a failed rainy season. She was named an Africa Food Prize laureate in 2020 and has received Uganda's highest civilian award.
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