Urooj Raja, PhD

Assistant Professor

Faculty Affiliate Lab for Applied Artificial Intelligence, Quinlan School of Business | Faculty Affiliate Institute of Racial Justice, Loyola University Chicago

Dr. Raja is an Assistant Professor of Public Communication and Advocacy at Loyola University Chicago whose work centers on understanding society’s responses to complex socio-environmental problems. Dr. Raja seeks to advance knowledge and understanding of public engagement with climate change and to contribute to the mitigation of environmental and societal harm. Dr. Raja further uses both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and varied mediums (like virtual reality) to understand how psychological distance—the perception that events, people, experiences, and places are physically or perceptually distant—relates to people’s engagement with climate change.

Dr. Raja’s academic work has appeared in journals like Climatic Change, Environmental Communication, Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers in Virtual Reality, and Landscape and Urban Planning, among others. Dr. Raja’s research has also been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hill, and used by The United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). Dr. Raja has also been awarded prestigious fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF-GRFP), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the World Bank, the Pace Center for Civic Engagement at Princeton University, the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources, the Environmental Grantmakers’ Association (EGA), and the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Dr. Raja has also worked as an Environmental Grantmaking Fellow at the Solutions Project, as a Research Analyst, and as a Fellow at Climate Central, and as a staffer for a New York State Assembly member.

Education

PhD., Environmental Studies. University of Colorado at Boulder, Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex (SEEC), Environmental Studies Program

M.A., Sociology focus Environmental Sociology. University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Sociology.

B.A., History (with honors), Certificate in South Asian Studies. Princeton University

Specialty Area

Environmental Communication, Immediacy of Environmental Appeals, Social Psychology, Research Methods, Environmental Engagement, Environmental Philanthropy, Environmental Virtual Reality

Courses Taught

Publications/Research Listings

Raja, U.S., Castro, N., & Eichmann, N. (2025). Is artificial intelligence revolutionizing climate change education? An exploratory study of climate change ChatGPT output. First Monday. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v30i4.13840

Raja, U.S., Albaghli, R. (2025). Ethical concerns in contemporary virtual reality and frameworks for pursuing responsible use. Frontiers in Virtual Reality 6 (29). https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2025.1451273

Raja, U.S., (2024). Essential Workers; Bearing the Brunt of Climate Change. New Labor Forum 10 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/10957960241299777

Raja, U. S., & Carrico, A. R. (2024). An Experimental Study of Climate Change Messages: Who and How Many to Feature? Environmental Communication, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2024.2340654

Raja, U.S., 2024. Exploring Virtual Reality as a Potential Care Technology, Journal of Environmental Communication, 18:1-2, 76-81, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2296854

Raja, U.S., Carrico, A.R. Formative Experiences and Psychological Distance in the Lives of Contemporary Environmentalists. Frontiers in Psychology, Section: Environmental Psychology 14, (2023). https:/ doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1192018

Raja, U.S., Carrico, A.R. Childhood trauma and other formative life experiences predict environmental engagement. Scientific Reports 12, 20756 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24517-7

Raja, U.S., & Carrico, A. R. (2021). A qualitative exploration of individual experiences of environmental virtual reality through the lens of psychological distance. Environmental Communication, 15(5), 594-609. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2020.1871052

Carrico, A. R., Raja, U.S., Fraser, J., & Vandenbergh, M. P. (2018). Household and block level influences on residential fertilizer use. Landscape and Urban Planning, 178, 60-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.05.008

Recent Public Writing and Communication Products for Public Consumption

2020               Our Country is on Fire—Will Political Leaders Help. The Hill.

2020               The U.S. Electric Grid—Climate Change’s Least Talked About Victim. The Hill.

2020               Documentary, The Changing Face of Iceland, Researcher for the Film