Our Featured Fellow for November 2025 is América Gaviria Pabón, a Ph.D. candidate in Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma (OU), where she also earned her master’s degree. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Physical Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, where her interest in weather and society first began.

Having grown up in Puerto Rico, América experienced Hurricane María in 2017—a moment that changed how she saw the connection between the weather and people’s lives. At the time, she was studying physics and taking a lot of meteorology classes, and living through the storm made her realize how important it is to communicate weather information clearly, especially to vulnerable communities. That experience shaped her path and continues to guide her work today.

Her dissertation focuses on how Spanish speakers interpret and respond to tropical weather alerts, whether those alerts are written by people or translated by artificial intelligence. Through surveys and interviews, she studies how language, trust, and lived experiences affect how people understand and react to hurricane risk information and alerts. Her goal is to improve how weather information is shared with Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Her research has been published in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and Weather, Climate, and Society.

América has been a Bill Anderson Fund (BAF) Fellow since 2024. She has served on the BAF Student Council’s Lightning Talks and Programming Committees, and now leads the Programming Committee. She also works as a Research Assistant with the BAF, helping with an evaluation of the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies Disaster Relief and Recovery program, which supports organizations serving communities impacted by disasters across the Midwest.

América has worked as a Research Assistant with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations and the Institute for Public Policy Research & Analysis at the University of Oklahoma. In these roles, she helped design and translate nationwide surveys on severe and tropical weather for both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. Her work has informed the implementation of improved Spanish translations within agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center and has contributed recommendations to the National Weather Service and NOAA to strengthen bilingual communication. She has also mentored undergraduate students, including participants in the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, supporting the next generation of weather and social science researchers.

In 2022, América participated in the Graduate Visitor Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where she collaborated with leading scientists on weather communication and risk perception research—an experience that expanded her national network and deepened her understanding of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Outside of research, América celebrates and shares her Puerto Rican and Latin heritage through dance. As President of the Latin Dance Club at OU, she teaches salsa and bachata, creating a space where students from all backgrounds can connect through rhythm, movement, and culture. For her, dance is more than performance—it’s a way to honor identity, build belonging, and strengthen community ties, especially for Latinx students far from home.

América represents the mission of the Bill Anderson Fund through her dedication to inclusive communication, cultural connection, and her goal of helping people feel informed, empowered, and resilient when facing natural hazards.

RESEARCH INTERESTS: Weather and climate risk communication, natural hazards, vulnerable communities, phenomenology, disaster subcultures, social vulnerability and resilience.aster preparedness, clean water, and the importance of working closely with all community members, regardless of their standing. After graduation, she hopes to continue working closely with the public sector, finding new ways to uplift marginalized communities: helping them rise, rebuild, and reimagine what’s possible. Guided by purpose, she’s forging a future where equity isn’t a dream—it’s the standard.