Leah Salditch ’21 received the Natural Hazards Section Award for Graduate Research

Institute for Policy Research graduate Leah Salditch (PhD, 2021) received the Natural Hazards Section Award for Graduate Research from the American Geophysical Union. Salditch earned PhD in earth and planetary sciences and a master’s in applied statistics from Northwestern in 2021. During her time at Northwestern, her research focused on earthquake hazards and statistical seismology.

According to the AGU, the annual award is presented to promising young scientists for “outstanding contributions to natural hazards research and is judged based on impact or potential impact to the field.” Of the 78 award recipients the AGU recognized, Salditch was one of five students and postdocs selected. She is now a Mendenhall postdoctoral fellow with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado.

“It is a huge honor to receive this award from AGU, one of the largest geoscience organizations in the world,” said Salditch. “I appreciate the recognition for the research that me and my colleagues at IPR have worked so hard on. I hope that our work will have a positive impact on natural hazard mitigation and preparedness, an issue which disproportionately affects low-income and minority neighborhoods.”

Read more about Salditch in the IPR article here.