UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thelma Abu, assistant professor of environment and human interactions at the University of Connecticut, will deliver a talk titled “Invisible Wounds of a Warming World" at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31, in 112 Walker Building on the Penn State University Park campus and will also be accessible via Zoom.
Abu will examine how climate extremes, particularly rising temperatures in semi-arid regions of Africa, affect mental health outcomes in low-resource settings. Drawing on a case study from Ghana, she will highlight community perceptions and lived experiences of climate stress in the country’s northern regions. Her talk will explore how climate-related mental health challenges can be better integrated into adaptation planning and policy.
Abu’s research centers on the socioecological production of health, focusing on environmental change, health inequalities and gender across the Global South and North. In the Global South, her work addresses the intersections of climate, water insecurity and health equity. In the Global North, she explores the health impacts of flooding and aging sewer systems. Before joining the University of Connecticut, Abu was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto Mississauga and earned her doctoral degree in geography from the University of Waterloo.
Abu’s lecture is part of the fall 2025 Coffee Hour seminar series hosted by Penn State’s Department of Geography. To learn more and access Zoom information, visit the Coffee Hour event webpage.