Pheej Lauj (Pheng Lor)
Graduate student, Environmental Humanities
Pheej is an Environmental Humanities graduate student and Mellon Community Engagement Fellow at the University of Utah. For his Mellon fellowship, he partners with OCA Asian American Pacific Islander Advocates Utah to bridge environmental and sustainability resources and relationships to the Utah Asian and Pacific Islander (API+) communities. His thesis interest explores the roles of community and stakeholder engagement to inform strategic and effective science communication. Pheej also supports evaluation and engagement initiatives for the NSF-funded Coastal Ocean Assessment for Sustainability and Transformation (COAST Card) project, where he hopes to identify synergies for best science communication and engagement practices across various locales, including: the Salt Lake Valley, Chesapeake Bay, Manila Bay, Tokyo Bay, and Goa Coast.
Pheej was born and raised in Fresno, California and completed his undergraduate at UC Berkeley with an interdisciplinary degree in Conservation and Resource Studies. Since, he has held various roles in the education and environmental non-profit sectors. His background and passions include plastics reduction and circular economy advocacy, as well as equity-framed community organizing. Since his graduate studies he has been recognized as both a Global Sustinability Fellow and a 2023 Circularity Emerging Leader.”