Dr. Sweta Baniya (She/Her) is a transnational interdisciplinary scholar of Rhetoric, Professional and Technical writing. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Virginia Tech and an affiliate faculty member in the Women and Gender Studies. She was awarded the 2025 Fellows’ Early Career Award from the Rhetoric Society of America in recognition of her contributions to her transnational, rhetorical, and community-engaged scholarship. Drawing on nearly a decade of experience as a journalist and community-engaged communications practitioner in Nepal and training in humanities, rhetoric, and technical communication, she advances culturally appropriate, technology-driven, and social-justice-oriented practices in disaster(s) and climate-change-affected communities.  She is the author of Transnational Assemblages: Social Justice and Crisis Communication During Disaster  (2026 CCCCs Advancement of Knowledge Award Honorable Mention) and 40 + peer-reviewed articles published in various national and international interdisciplinary journals within Humanities, Rhetoric, Technical Communication, Disaster studies, and Engineering.