Eileen D. Tomczuk is an Urban Studies PhD student in the City, Culture & Community Program. She is interested in community-engaged historic preservation and spatial justice. Her research focuses on grassroots efforts to preserve and share the histories of marginalized groups in urban built environments in New Orleans, the Gulf South, and the Caribbean. She uses place-based strategies and participatory action research in her work. Eileen is a research assistant at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking, a fellow in the Mellon Program for Community-Engaged Research (2022-2024 Cohort), and an active board member for the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana and the Faerie Playhouse Center. Previously, Eileen has held roles at the Louisiana State Museum, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center, and The National WWII Museum. Eileen has an MA in Museology and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington. She earned a BA with a double major in Art History and Film Studies from Tulane University.