Catherine L Nakalembe has been awarded Changemaker of the Year at the Influencer Magazine Awards (E3) on October 25, 2026. An Assistant Professor of Geospatial AI at the University of Maryland and founder of the Xylem Lab and Xylem Institute, Dr. Nakalembe translates geospatial AI into policy-ready intelligence for food security, climate adaptation, and environmental decision-making.
As Africa Lead for NASA Harvest and former Agriculture and Food Security Lead on NASA’s SERVIR team, she applies remote sensing and AI to advance agricultural monitoring, land-use mapping, disaster response, and climate resilience across Africa.
Dr. Nakalembe holds a Ph.D. in Geographical Science from the University of Maryland, an M.S. in Geography & Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from Makerere University, Uganda. Her honors include the Al Sumait Prize, Uganda’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Africa Food Prize, and a GEO Individual Excellence Award. She is also a TED Fellow, a National Geographic Explorer, and a MacArthur Foundation/Op-Ed Project Public Voices Fellow.
