Local Data Journalism Initiative

Empowering journalists to tell stories about issues impacting cities, through high-quality data science

Investigative journalism increasingly involves digging into large data sets with granular detail on topics such as housing and real estate, policing and crime, voting and elections, education, climate, and government finance. Analyzing and presenting this information in a rigorous, engaging, and impactful way takes significant time, computational power, and expertise — at a moment when many newsrooms are strapped for resources and staff.

Leveraging the University of Chicago’s robust data science infrastructure, the Local Data Journalism Initiative establishes partnerships between news organizations and university data science teams to conduct ambitious investigative journalism on critical issues affecting cities, using the highest caliber data science and artificial intelligence tools and methodologies. The initiative is run by the Data Science Institute and the Mansueto Institute.

Program overview

What sets this effort apart from existing university data journalism programs is that, rather than attempting to train reporters to be data scientists in a few weeks, we connect them with university faculty and students who will conduct data science projects and provide analyses and visualizations needed to complete their stories. This empowers journalists to do what they do best: investigate leads; build relationships with sources; and tell powerful, impactful stories — knowing that the data and results they’re reporting have been rigorously analyzed and validated.

The Local Data Journalism Initiative selects journalists who work at local news outlets and University of Chicago data science students to spend a summer working together, alongside our expert data science faculty. The data science team will include on-campus faculty and a group of students from the University of Chicago with skills relevant for each accepted project. By the end of the summer, journalists will be presented with completed data analyses and engaging visualizations, validated by the University of Chicago, that can be used to shape impactful stories about pressing urban issues.

Application information

The program accepts applications annually for Data Journalism Fellowships from journalists, and from University of Chicago students for Data Science Student Fellowships. Applications for the program are currently closed and will reopen later this year for Summer 2025.

Current Projects

The Local Data Journalism Initiative is excited to work in Summer 2024 with the following journalists and media organizations on critical issues impacting cities, including real estate, transportation, and public finance:

Maya Dukmasova, Injustice Watch
Sarah Freishtat, Chicago Tribune
Matt Kiefer WBEZ Chicago
Alden Loury, WBEZ Chicago
Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune
A.D. Quig, Chicago Tribune

Clockwise: Maya Dukmasova, Sarah Freishtat, Matt Kiefer, Dan Petrella, A.D. Quig, Alden Loury

Our Team

Meet our team of data science researchers for the Summer of 2024.

Christopher R. Berry

Faculty Lead

Christopher R. Berry is the William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy and the College and director the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, at the University of Chicago. He was the inaugural director of the Center for Municipal Finance and is a current faculty affiliate. Professor Berry’s research interests include American politics, metropolitan governance, municipal finance, and intergovernmental fiscal relations. He is the author of Imperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments, winner of the Best Book Award in Urban Politics from the American Political Science Association, Theory and Credibility (with Scott Ashworth and Ethan Bueno de Mesquita), and many other scholarly publications. Professor Berry’s research has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and many other outlets. Professor Berry is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. For access to Professor Berry’s writings, please visit his research website. To learn more about his research on property tax fairness, visit www.propertytaxproject.uchicago.edu.

Philip Garboden

Faculty Advisor

Philip Garboden is an Associate Professor at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Prior to his position at Crown, Garboden was the inaugural HCRC Professor in Affordable Housing Economics, Policy, and Planning at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. During the 2022-2023 academic year, Garboden was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. His primary research agenda looks at how supply side actors – landlords, developers, and property managers – respond to state, local, and federal housing policy in ways that exacerbate the structural marginalization of low-income and non-white communities. He is currently working on a book for Princeton University Press entitled American Landlord (coauthored with Eva Rosen) that examines how landlords leverage the uneven power dynamics of low-rent housing markets in ways that shape tenant well-being. He holds a PhD in Sociology, an MA in Public Policy, and an MSE in Applied Math and Statistics, all from Johns Hopkins University.

Justin Marlowe

Faculty Advisor

Justin Marlowe is a Research Professor in the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Municipal Finance. His research and teaching are focused on public finance, with emphasis on public capital markets, infrastructure finance, state and local budgeting, and financial disclosure. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Municipal Finance Journal, and he co-hosts the Public Money Pod, a podcast produced by the Center for Municipal Finance. Dr. Marlowe has authored or edited five books – including the forthcoming Public Debt Management: Strategy and Evidence (Cambridge University Press) – and several dozen academic articles and book chapters. Dr. Marlowe received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and is a Certified Government Financial Manager.

Eric Langowski

Senior Data Scientist

Eric Langowski is a Senior Data Scientist at the Mansueto Institute. He is also a senior data scientist for local government and has previously worked at the city, county, state, and federal levels of government. His work with University of Chicago Professor Christopher Berry on property taxes has been featured in numerous publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Bloomberg News. He has in the past worked with the Coalition for Property Tax Justice and as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago. Eric holds a Master of Science in Computational Analysis & Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Indiana University.

Divij Sinha

Research Associate

Divij Sinha earned an MS in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MS CAPP) from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and is a research engineer with the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation. Before this, he has spent time working at the intersection of urban policy research and practice at the Urban Informatics Lab at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements. He has worked across themes like domestic work, employment, child and maternal health, and, migration.

Abigail Beckler

Data Science Fellow

Abby Beckler is currently pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science with a specialization in Machine Learning and a B.A. in Economics with a specialization in Data Science at the University of Chicago. She previously served as a Teaching Assistant for the Department of Computer Science’s Data Visualization course under Professor Gordon Kindlmann and led Python instruction for the department’s SCU:BA program with Professor Adam Shaw. Abby also collaborated with the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago on their inaugural afterschool STEM program at the Carnegie Elementary School in Chicago. Additionally, she has research experience as an assistant in both the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and is a member of UChicago TechTeam and UC Open Data.

Kevin Bryson

Data Science Fellow

Kevin Bryson graduated from Morehouse College in 2021. He is a PhD student at the University of Chicago in SUPERgroup, working with Blase Ur. Kevin builds interfaces that help illuminate fairness‑related decisions throughout the data science process and explores how new (and old) data processing techniques can generate justice by critically engaging with the impacts of systemic inequalities on data. Kevin also researches the usability of privacy and ad transparency systems in online platforms.

Joseph De Leon

Data Science Fellow

Joseph De Leon is an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, pursuing a dual major in Data Science and Urban Studies. During his time in the College, he has utilized GIS software to map the development of urban landscapes along Chicago’s 55th and 63rd Streets throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. He has also employed spatial analysis to research the accessibility of affordable housing developments across diverse Chicago neighborhoods. He is interested in applying data analysis to uncover disparities on topics such as housing accessibility, climate resilience, and transit equity.

Fatima Irfan

Data Science Fellow

Fatima Irfan is pursuing a Master’s of Science in the Computational Analysis of Public Policy (MSCAPP) program. She is passionate about leveraging data and technology to address social inequities and drive positive change. Previously, she worked in product management and data science at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and served as a policy intern at the Cook County Justice Advisory Council (JAC). Her work has explored critical areas such as electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system, data harmonization for research studies, and urban issues.

Joaquin Pinto

Data Science Fellow

Joaquin Pinto is a student at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy where he is currently pursuing the Master of Science in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MSCAPP). He previously completed his BA in Economics with a Minor in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago and worked as a Quantitative Analyst at Refinitiv with the Energy Research Team. Joaquin is joining us for the Data Journalism Fellowship with the Who Owns Chicago team; he is excited to explore means to use data-driven methods to guide policy making in sustainable and equitable urban development.

Regina Isabel Medina Rosales

Data Science Fellow

Regina Isabel Medina is studying the MS in Computational Analysis and Public Policy (MSCAPP) at the University of Chicago with the support of the Fulbright scholarship. She holds a BA in Public Policy from CIDE. She worked as a Data Analyst in the Mexican non-profit sector (at Intersecta and México, ¿Cómo Vamos?), transforming complex and unstructured data sources into appealing visualizations and publications that informed public policy discussions. Her topics of interest include gender, social equality, and non-punitive interventions. As a Harris student, she has worked as a Graduate Research Assistant and is part of the student initiatives of South Side Civic and the University of Chicago Mexican Association.

Caitlin P.

Data Science Fellow

Caitlin is pursuing her M.S. in Computational Analysis and Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Before coming to UChicago, she worked as a Data Engineer and Data Analyst at nonprofits focusing on voter outreach and human rights. Caitlin received her bachelor’s in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is interested in applying her data science skills to advance civil liberties and electoral access.

Akshay Ramdev

Data Science Fellow

Akshay Ramdev is currently pursuing an M.Sc. in Applied Data Science from the University of Chicago. A self-described “ordinary data guy” who likes to follow his passions and dreams, Akshay enjoys sports, music, traveling, listening to inspiring talks, stand-up comedy, and making lifelong connections. He garnishes these pastimes with a good sense of humor and strives to be well-balanced in all aspects of life.

Ana (Anita) Restrepo Lachman

Data Science Fellow

Anita Restrepo Lachman is a doctoral student in Psychology working in the Social Psychophysiology and Neuroendocrinology Lab under Dr. Greg Norman. Anita completed her bachelors in Neuroscience and Psychology at Duke University and has focused her research on the effects of social stress, in particular loneliness, on decision-making, behavior, and peripheral nervous system activity.

Austin Steinhart

Data Science Fellow

Austin Steinhart is currently pursuing an MS in Computational Analysis and Public Policy from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. On campus, Austin serves as a Lead Developer with the Chicago Maroon and as a board member for South Side Civic. Before beginning graduate school, he worked in youth development supporting the next generation of change-makers and in political analytics as a full-stack analyst.