About
I live in Chicago and work as an analyst at the Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change (RISC), a nonprofit incubator founded by Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt. At RISC, I lead Project Donor, a nonprofit founded at RISC that helps living organ donors achieve transplant eligibility and pilots novel interventions in the living donor space.
I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Chicago in 2022 with degrees in Economics and Environmental & Urban Studies with Honors. While there, I served as editor-in-chief of UChicago’s independent student newspaper, The Chicago Maroon. In my free time, I write poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. My work has been selected for the Best Microfiction anthology and nominated for the Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize. I love swimming in Lake Michigan and spoiling my cat, Marlowe (pictured above).
Current Work
I currently lead Project Donor, a nonprofit housed at UChicago's Center for RISC. Project Donor is devoted to improving the American living organ donation system, both by easing the process for prospective donors and by implementing system-wide reforms to benefit donors, transplant centers, and recipients. Project Donor works with over 400 would-be kidney and liver donors who have been rejected from donating due to BMI or cigarette use. We provide free weight loss, smoking cessation, and emotional support resources, as well as logistical and material support on the path to donation.
In April 2024, my team completed a report mapping the national kidney donation system and proposing a series of behavioral, institutional, and policy interventions to simplify the living donation bureaucracy and increase the proportion of willing donors who are able to give this extraordinary gift to a loved one or stranger.
At RISC, I also work on exploratory projects: nascent ideas for unexpected solutions to big problems. Today, I’m researching potential interventions related to animal welfare and futures markets for social good.
I am currently applying to law school. As an attorney, I hope to return to my undergraduate research interest in strategic environmental justice litigation by bringing suits at the intersection of climate change and civil liberties.
Selected Nonfiction
Journalism:
South Side Weekly - Profile of Jamie Kalven, Chicago's 'guerrilla journalist' (w/ Emma Jannssen)
The Chicago Maroon - The decades-long battle over Hyde Park's Promontory Point
The Chicago Maroon - First-ever Maroon Sustainability Issue
The Chicago Maroon - Profile of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Chicago's Living Civil Rights Icon
The Chicago Maroon - Coverage of Hyde Park Police Shooting in January 2022
The Chicago Maroon - Essential Special Issue: Essential Workers at UChicago
The Hyde Park Herald -The Garden of the Phoenix: A hidden gem with a long history
The South Side Weekly - Interview with the author and illustrator of BTTM FDRS: A graphic novel
Advocacy:
The Center for RISC - Living Organ Donation: Challenges and Opportunities
ClimateLinks for USAID - Plastic is a Climate Issue, Too
ClimateLinks for USAID - Nigerian Youth Innovate for a Clean Energy Future
The French Consulate in Chicago - Spotlight: Plastics and Human Health
Radio Waves: An audio series on youth water advocates (funded by UChicago's College Summer Institute)
UChicago Environmental Frontiers - Plan for 15% Reduction in Campus Water Use (internal use only)
Planet Radio - NoMoreMermaidTears interview
Project AZU - Youth Environmental Leaders Interview
Academic Works:
- Co-authored a chapter on human rights law and climate change mitigation for the forthcoming anthology 'Human Rights and Investment Law for Climate Change: Trends and Prospects'
- Honors Thesis: Is There a Legal Path to Environmental Justice? Movement-building, strategic litigation, and a case study of Chicago’s General Iron dispute (winner of the Chicago Thesis Prize)
- Co-author: Salt marsh sediments act as sinks for microplastics and reveal effects of current and historical land use change
Selected Poetry and Fiction
2024:
Not My Style - Up is then thunder and Make-believe lightning
hex - The aphid underground and On living your best life
2023
PRISM International - We all start from the same place and grow from there and This is the story about the girl who gets lost in the woods (print only)
HAD - Froggy Lives Forever and Desert Stories
Red Ogre Review - What I think will happen next and In the sound hole
Gone Lawn - Greenwashing: A Love Story and On blurry nights...
Atlas & Alice - Silhouette (Wigleaf Top 50 2024)
hex - Yarnidermis (selected for the Best Microfiction anthology)
2022
Olney - A Little Further
Buffalo buffalo buffalo - Seven Invasions (with Evan Williams)
Variant Lit - Moses in Retirement (nominated for a Pushcart Prize)
HAD - Feeling small, (with Evan Williams)
EcoTheo - urban heat, Natural Body, and The trouble with the city (print only)
hex - The Brains (nominated for the Best of the Net and Best Microfiction anthologies)
Cool Rock Repository - Three Saints
RUBY RORTY
(831)246-1522
rubyannrorty@gmail.com
EDUCATION
The University of Chicago
GPA 3.86/4.00
B.A. Economics B.A. Environmental & Urban Studies with Honors
2018-2022
Magna cum laude
National Merit Scholar, Provost’s Scholar, Dean’s List 2019-2020, 2021-2022
Honors and awards:
WSJ Noted Scholar, Frizzell Student Honoree, Environmental Justice Grant Awardee 2021 Chicago Studies Thesis Award
Work Experience
Project Lead
Project Donor
June 2023-Present
- Oversee operations, development, and strategy for a nonprofit serving 200+ living organ donor candidates and 30+ transplant centers. Conceive of and pilot behavioral, policy, and institutional interventions to improve America’s living organ donation system, including most recently early-process cash transfers and concierge eligibility testing services.
Analyst
Center for RISC at the University of Chicago
January 2023-Present
- Research and implement innovative projects for social good, including a program to increase the supply of living kidney and liver donors, an ongoing investigation into alternatives to Portland cement, and a nascent project focused on implementing effective mental health care in public high schools.
Intake Specialist
ACLU of the District of Columbia
September 2022-Present
- Investigate and evaluate the cases of individuals who seek legal help from the D.C. ACLU
- Work with attorneys to evaluate the legal strength and potential impact of purported civil liberties violations
Climate Finance Action
Campaign Stategy Intern
June 2022-September 2022
- Crafted strategy for divestment of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) from fossil fuels. Lobbied TSP members, President Biden, and EPA administrators to divest and declare a climate emergency
- Created educational climate finance webinars, authored petitions, drafted press releases and social media strategy
- Conducted legal and policy research for the TSP Fossil Fuel campaign and the office of Senator Dick Durbin on the projected impacts of the Supreme Court’s (then forthcoming) ruling in Sackett v. EPA
Chicago-based Environmental Justice Researcher
Independent grant-funded research
June 2021 - Present
- Received $9,000 in university funding to conduct a research project on environmental justice (EJ) in Chicago. Interviewed legal experts and plaintiffs, analyzed case law, and reassessed historical legal scholarship on U.S. EJ litigation strategy in order to develop strategic recommendations. Research currently under review for publication in Consilience at Columbia
- Continued project as a B.A. thesis on the grassroots movement to avert an attempted relocation of a metal shredding plant to Chicago’s Southeast Side. The resulting sociolegal thesis was granted honors and awarded the University of Chicago’s Chicago Thesis Prize for its multidisciplinary engagement and forward-looking legal recommendations
- Continues to investigate local EJ issues as a freelancer for local papers like the South Side Weekly and Hyde Park Herald
Climate Justice Through the Courts
Legal Research Assistant
July 2021 - Present
- Conducted sociolegal research on international climate justice litigation under the mentorship of Dr. Margaretha Wewerinke at Leiden University. Built case timelines, analyzed media coverage, and projected future rulings based on precedent
- Currently co-authoring chapter on restitution and resolution in international climate litigation. Edited chapters of the forthcoming Judicial Handbook on Climate Litigation, a forthcoming manual on best practices in climate judicial practice
The Chicago Maroon
Editor-in-Chief
February 2021-February 2022
- Managed more than 100 student journalists, illustrators, and editors to produce award-winning coverage as editorial head of the University of Chicago’s independent, student-led weekly newspaper
- Created first-ever Sustainability Special Issue, curating reporting and commentary on sustainability in the city and on campus
- Executive decision-maker for all aspects of the paper, including hiring, internal policy, budget, etc.
- Wrote in-depth investigative journalism, including a profile of Jesse Jackson and a history of Hyde Park's lakeside
The Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
Jeff Metcalf Research Fellow
June 2020-September 2020
- Conducted cost-benefit analysis on water-saving strategies and created a plan to achieve 15% campus water-use reduction by 2025. Presented research and plan to key University stakeholders as a prioritized list of cost-effective interventions
- Monitored UChicago’s water use against comparable institutions and created accessible graphics for sustainability
Technical Skills: Advanced in InDesign, Vanguard, Microsoft Suite | Experience with R, Julia, Tableau, GIS, MATLAB
