Our Speakers

Allison Karabu is a climate researcher and graduate student at the Columbia Climate School pursuing an M.S. in Climate. She also works as an intern at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, focusing on community-based climate resilience, disaster preparedness, and extreme heat risk analysis. She was part of the Climate School student team that produced a match-by-match analysis of extreme heat and environmental risk at the 2026 FIFA World Cup at MetLife Stadium, where her contribution examined air quality: her work documented how plumes of Canadian wildfire smoke pushed air quality indices in parts of the New York metropolitan area into "very unhealthy" territory in the days around the final, and argued that poor air quality belongs in emergency management protocols for future summer mega-events alongside heat itself. Her wider interest lies in how large gatherings and the communities that host them can plan for compound environmental hazards that fall hardest on people with respiratory conditions, older adults and children.