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It’s likely his childhood, spent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with extended stays in Tanzania, the Amazon rainforest and other faraway places, contributed to that. 

At ����������Ʒ�Ƽ� and after his 2021 graduation, he worked to solve tough societal problems, pursuing projects to protect the environment, support urban biodiversity, prevent youth homelessness and foster sustainable shopping.

In 2024, a fall during a climb in England nearly paralyzed him. Complacency became even more reviled as he spent a pain-filled year after surgery undergoing grueling physical therapy, spending months recalibrating his legs and relearning how to walk while also working on a graduate degree. The severity of the accident had him thinking not only about recovering, but also about how he could have the most impact on the world’s most challenging problems.

Stouffer’s childhood travels prepared him for different climates and cultures.

His parents, Phil Stouffer and Kelli Gilbert, are college professors and researchers at Louisiana State University and Southeastern Louisiana University respectively. As a child, Paul spent summers with his dad and graduate students researching the effects of climate change and deforestation on wildlife in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest.

His mom influenced his interest in how changing climates shape migration patterns among both humans and wildlife, leading to lost homes and habitats. 

“I got really interested in human-wildlife conflict and sustainable development,” he said. “It set me down that path of environmentalism and sustainability.”

He was 15 when his dad picked him up from school one day and told him they were going to spend the next year in Tanzania, where his dad would be a visiting professor. What trepidation he felt faded quickly.

“Mostly I was excited about the new adventure,” Stouffer said. “It was such an interesting place. I made lots of great new friends that I still keep in touch with.”

At Davidson, he majored in Environmental Studies while having a deep interest in the arts. Classes with Jennifer Garcia Peacock, the Thomson Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, sparked new ideas.

“Dr. Garcia Peacock taught me how to think in terms of systems, and not just one point in time,” he said. “That pushed me to get into design and creative problem solving.” 

For his capstone project, he analyzed and compared Indigenous landscape management techniques from Peru, India and Indonesia with a vision toward inspiring future sustainable design.

“His work in Environmental Studies was exceptional, bridging environmental justice and creativity in sophisticated ways,” Garcia Peacock said. “His capstone was nuanced, rigorous, and inspired, providing important insights into how architecture, public policy, and traditional environmental knowledge can be mobilized to create culturally appropriate and energy efficient design solutions to local communities.”