SERVIR Applied Sciences Team member selected as Africa Food Prize Laureate

Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, holding her award. (Photo credit: NASA/Catherine Nakalembe)

Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, SERVIR Applied Sciences Team (AST) Principal Investigator and East Africa Lead for the NASA Harvest program, has been awarded the 2020 Africa Food Prize (AFP).  The press release from africafoodprize.org describes the award as recognizing ‘extraordinary women, men, and institutions whose outstanding contributions to African agriculture are forging a new era of sustainable food security and economic opportunity that elevates all Africans.’ Dr. Nakalembe, who is originally from Uganda, leads the ‘Earth Observation for National Agricultural Monitoring’ AST project, working with the SERVIR-Eastern and Southern Africa hub to advance national agriculture monitoring in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.  She was recognized for her work in using Earth observing satellite data to improve agricultural decision making.  In addition to her roles with NASA Harvest and as a SERVIR AST PI, she is also the SERVIR thematic lead for Agriculture and Food Security.