The 2025 Graduate Appalachian Research Community (GARC) Symposium, hosted by the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center on March 8th, brought together scholars and researchers from UK and the region to discuss pressing issues in Appalachia. This year’s theme, Insider/Outsider, connected history, culture, science, and art to exemplify Appalachia’s past, present, and future.
One of the panels at the symposium was titled, “Disaster Perspectives in Appalachia,” and featured three CLIMBS participants. The session explored questions about disaster perspectives in Appalachia, sharing and communicating research data and connecting with the community. The panel also included an open dialogue session to discuss research reciprocity and receive feedback from the Appalachian scholar community.
Kevin Puckett, KY NSF EPSCoR’s communication strategist, moderated the panel and introduced the CLIMBS project and its seven research projects.
Nicole Marks, a panelist, is a first-year PhD UK student in anthropology, preparing to launch her research in Eastern Kentucky this summer. Her work will focus on building relationships with community members, emergency responders, mutual aid organizations, and disaster relief groups. By conducting interviews and preliminary fieldwork, Marks aims to understand the impacts of flooding and landslides in Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia. Her ethnographic research will support CLIMBS Project 6, which focuses on quantifying community resilience in the face of disasters.
Michael McGlue, Co-PI on the CLIMBS project, also joined the panel and emphasized the importance of connecting data collect in CLIMBS to communities and some of the programs which seek to do just that. McGlue is the director of the Kentucky Geological Survey and his research contributes to Project 2 and 3 of CLIMBS, which deal with paleontology and hydrology.
Megan Hall, a UK PhD student in sociology, spoke on her research in North Carolina, particularly after the Hurricane Helene disaster. Says Hall, “Disaster studies researchers often look at single episodes of catastrophe, however, it is crucial to consider the longer disaster history of a place, especially when considering how a community responds to a disaster. In my research, I use a case study of a community in the mountains of Western North Carolina that has faced numerous floods and economic insecurity to demonstrate how different disasters interlock with each other. I am especially interested in how communities learn from one episode of disaster to alter their response to the next.”
This panel underscored the importance of interdisciplinary research in disaster studies, emphasizing the lived experiences of Appalachian communities facing environmental and economic threats. The discussions reinforced the need for long-term strategies to support resilience and preparedness in the region.
