Sophia Cheng is a rising junior at Northwestern University studying History and Environmental Policy with a minor in Data Science. By combining interdisciplinary coursework in environmental history, policy mechanisms, scientific processes, and statistical research methods, she aims to understand how we arrived at this point in the climate crisis. As a member of the Sanders Seminar, an honors research seminar in Northwestern's history department, she studied historiographical methods and wrote a 43-page original research paper on the history of Asian American environmental justice.  

Outside of class, Sophia writes non-partisan debate primers as Blog Editor of Political Union, edits legal articles as Forum Editor of the Undergraduate Law Journal, and conducts archival research on race-restrictive covenants as a Research Assistant for the Chicago Covenants Project. She also serves as a board member and youth leader of local non-profit Climate Action Evanston, advancing grassroots environmental action in the Chicagoland area.  

An avid volunteer, she redistributes unused dining hall food to food-insecure individuals with NU Campus Kitchen, guides low-income high school students through the college application process as a Matriculate Advising Fellow, and writes postcards to encourage environmental voter turnout with the Environmental Voter Project. With her robust arts and sciences education and wide-ranging extracurricular experiences, Sophia hopes to attend law school and pursue a career fighting climate change and advancing environmental justice through impact litigation.  

Sophia loves to read (history, memoirs, essays), attend history department lectures, take long walks in nature, and spend time with friends. She calls the California Bay Area home.