People

Students, Staff and Faculty of Knight Lab Studio.

Faculty

Jill Blackman

Director of Data Journalism

Jill immerses students in cutting-edge data journalism techniques, teaching them to transform raw numbers into captivating narratives and engaging stories....

Nick Hagar

Postdoctoral Scholar, Generative AI in the Newsroom Initiative

Nick is a postdoc developing genAI applications for newsrooms. They research how collective attention works in large, complex systems: how...

Zach Wise

Professor, Journalism

Emmy winning interactive producer & Associate Professor @NorthwesternU, @KnightLab. Formerly of The New York Times. Creator of TimelineJS & StoryMapJS...

Jeremy Gilbert

Knight Professor in Digital Media Strategy

Jeremy Gilbert is the Knight Professor of Digital Media Strategy. Both his work and teaching focus on the content and...

Kris Hammond

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Prior to joining the faculty at Northwestern, Kris founded the University of Chicago’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His research has been...

Nicholas
Diakopoulos

Assistant Professor, Director of the Computational Journalism Lab

Northwestern University Asst Professor of Communication & Tow Center fellow. Computational journalism, algorithmic accountability, social computing.

Emily Withrow

Professor of Practice, Journalism

Story mechanic - maintaining the engines of great storytelling across platforms. Current research focus - voice user interfaces. Past life...

Craig Stevens

Ph.D Student in Anthropology & Northwestern IT Innovator-in-Residence

Craig is a doctoral student at Northwestern University and one of the first innovators-in-residence at the Media and Technology Innovation...

Staff

Joe Germuska

Chief Nerd

Joe runs Knight Lab’s technology, professional staff and student fellows. Before joining us, Joe was on the Chicago Tribune News...

Scott Bradley

Senior Engineer

Mercurial technologist currently focused on electronics and natural language processing.

Alex Wilson

Knight Lab Fellow

Alex serves as a Knight Lab Fellow. He also works at Vianai Systems, an AI unicorn based out of Palo...

Divya Sasidharan

Engineer, 2016-2017

Island/City girl living in small town O Hi O. Tea drinker in a coffee drinking world.

Rebecca Poulson

Engineer, 2016-2020

Rebecca leads AR/VR projects at Knight Lab. In addition to being a software developer and playwright, Rebecca is an Oculus...

Students

Noah Alvarado

Current Northwestern student (Class of '20) and back-end developer. Loves his dog and efficient solutions.

Albert Jin

Albert Jin is a first-year graduate student in Engineering Design Innovation Program. He is passionate about user experience design and...

Alex Sher

Sophie Lamb

Sophie Lamb is a senior studying journalism and political science in Medill. She is interested in the ethics of emerging...

SUN XIZI

Northwestern IMC18 Candidate specialized in Consumer Insight and Data. Passionate about VR/AR application, UX design and projection tech.

Suzy (Sujung) Lee

A junior who loves programming <3

Theodore Chryssos

Lifestyle journalist studying marketing communications, emerging-media geek, VR acolyte, amateur videographer, stationery enthusiast.

Thomas Li

Northwestern '20 // Communication Studies + Computer Science. Finding my place in the tech space.

TJ Kim

TJ is an undergraduate at Northwestern pursuing journalism and economics. He seeks to bring design thinking and strategic storytelling to...

Umang Shukla

Umang Shukla is a member of the MMM Class of 2018 at the Kellogg School of Management.

Victoria Cabales

Fellow

Will Reinhardt

Yani Xie

Northwestern '18 graduate, CS major

Yixue Wang

Ph.D. student in the Technology and Social Behavior program at Northwestern, focusing on computational journalism and social science. She is...

Alexis Shanes

Alexis Shanes is a graduate journalism student at Northwestern University.

Ana Hur

Andrew Finke

Freshman in the McCormick School of Engineering.

Andrew Lapin

Ashcon Abae

Audrey DeBruine

Fellow

Audrey Valbuena

Medill undergraduate studying journalism and international studies. Passionate about telling human stories with data and good design.

Avriana Allen

I’m a fourth year double major in journalism and statistics, with a creative writing minor. I have a deep love...

Ben Singer

Device Lab Fellow

Benjamin Scharf

Brett Bergstrom

Medill Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship MSJ Candidate. Product-focused researcher. Creative writer. Passionate about the intersection of software and ethics.

Carlos Belardi

Celine Chang

Daniel Zhou

An amateur slacker who knows a little bit about journalism, statistics and economics

Danny Hwang

MSJ MIE '19

David Caine

David Jacob

MS Engineering Design Innovation student at Northwestern interested in UX, Service Design, and Design Research. I believe in efficient and...

David Latimore

Fellow

David Wallach

Eunice Lee

Student Fellow

Gabriel Caniglia

Interested in the future of human-computer interaction.

Hailey Melville

Northwestern '17 grad and UX Designer focused on solutions that improve the world. Passionate about clarity, transparency, and social justice....

Hannah Givertz

Northwestern '18 and Center for Civic Engagement Fellow focused on community partnerships and building platforms for the equitable sharing of...

Henry K.
Dambanemuya

Henry is a Ph.D. student in Technology and Social Behavior, a joint program in computer science and communications at Northwestern...

Henry Keyser

VR Journalism Student; focusing on media innovation, product management, TV Producing. Also a relapsing playwright.

Holly Kane

Isaac Lee

Isabel Seidel

Isabella Jiao

Device Lab Fellow

Jake Daniels

Virtual Reality storyteller studying Radio/TV/Film, Computer Science, and Design in Northwestern University’s class of 2019.

Jeff Birori

Device Lab Fellow

Jennifer Liu

Jessica
Buchleitner

Author of the 50 Women anthology series and Co-lead Editor/Producer Stories from Girls and Women of Mogadishu. United Nations delegate...

Joe Blackman

Jordan Friedman

Fellow

Josh Shi

Student Fellow

Kathleen Yuan

Dual-degree journalist and violinist. Exploring temporal and visual arts' intersection with tech. Always curious.

Kelly Calagna

Fellow

Keyla Carvalho

Keyla Carvalho is a Medill student from São Paulo, Brazil. She studies journalism and French. She's passionate about art and...

Khoa Truong

Kiara Joseph

Kiara is a journalism and theatre student who spends her free time watching sports, listening to music, and geeking out...

Kira Furuichi

Laura Barrera Forero

Northwestern '19 Computer Science student. Interested in backend development and the intersection of business and tech.

Lucy Dwyer

Junior at Northwestern studying Journalism, Integrated Marketing Communications and Sociology.

Luke Choe

Madeleine Fernando

Medill '18 grad studying journalism and political science.

Madeline LeFevour

Mary Truong

Device Lab Fellow

Mary is an artist who likes to use weird tech to build installations.

Matthew Wang

Undergrad junior studying computer engineering at Northwestern with a focus in backend software development. In my spare time I enjoy...

Maxine Whitely

Fellow

Megan Fu

Senior at Northwestern studying Journalism and Global Health, interested in storytelling.

Mengyi Jenny Sun

Miao Deng

Graduate student studying integrated marketing communications. Interested in data analytics, media storytelling, and emerging technologies.

Michael Martinez

Student Fellow

Michela Ferrari

I’m a UX designer and researcher who believes design and communication go hand in hand. I am currently a senior...

Nia Adurogbola

Device Lab Fellow

Nia is a junior studying journalism from the Bronx, New York. She is currently a Device Lab Fellow who is...

Nikolas Wright

Writer, editor, and aspiring product manager in the 2017 graduate media innovation track at the Medill School of Journalism.

Akhil
Kambhammettu

Device Lab Fellow

Hey there! My name is Akhil Kambhammettu and I’m a sophomore studying journalism and computer science. I’m from Portland, OR...

Patrick Hoy

Rachel Inderhees

Rafah Ali

Northwestern junior studying Computer Science, Design, and Entrepreneurship. Passionate about designing and implementing solutions for social impact.

Rawan Mohamed

I’m an undergraduate Computer Science student pursuing the Segal Design & the Human-Computer Interaction certificates. Coming from Cairo, Egypt, I...

Rebecca Lassiter

Northwestern 2020, pursuing a BS in Computer Science. Strives to make an impact and promote social justice.

Rika Ko

Human-Centered Product Engineering, '19. Always looking for new opportunities to design and develop the next best thing.

Samarth Soni

Fellow

Sarah Wong

Computer Science '19

Sherry Chiu

A creative storyteller specializing in visual design and market strategy. Graduated from Northwestern University in 2017 with a BA in...

Shoshi Shapiro