Revelatory accountability reporting
Anavi Prakash is a sophomore at Northwestern University studying journalism, social policy and data science. She reports on K-12 education for The Daily Northwestern, where she most recently served as a multimedia managing editor and audio editor. She is also involved with the State of Local News Project and Northwestern’s student chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. She will spend the summer at Midstory, a Toledo-based thinkhub and media organization, reporting on issues impacting the Midwest. Anavi is interested in multimedia reporting and covering local education and youth issues through an investigative lens.
Gabby Shell is a sophomore at Northwestern University studying journalism, political science and English literature. In addition to her work at Medill Investigative Lab, she has worked as the assistant managing editor for North by Northwestern and as a reporter, anchor and producer for the campus radio news show, WNUR News. She previously interned for Madison Magazine and for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Office of Public Affairs. Gabby is interested in covering political polarization and social unrest, incarceration, and K-12 education.
Jessie Nguyen is a graduate student at Northwestern University, where she specializes in the Medill Investigative Lab with a concentration in data journalism. She graduated from Penn State University in 2023 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and two minors in Economics and Business. Before coming to Medill, Jessie reported for LancasterOnline, covering school budgets, K-12 education and community news in southeastern Pennsylvania. At Medill, Jessie has covered the statewide teacher shortage for Capitol News Illinois and the coal miners’ fight for benefits for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She has worked for NBCUniversal Local, WNEP-TV, Centre County Report and The Daily Collegian. Jessie has a passion for local news reporting and a strong interest in policies, economics and education.
Kate McQuarrie is a graduate student completing her Master’s of Science in Journalism at the Medill Investigative Lab, D.C. A recent graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in English, Kate previously worked at CalMatters, wrote for Annenberg Media and was an editor at the Daily Trojan. Kate has been working part-time as a contributor for ProPublica with the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Life of the Mother” team since January in addition to her work for ProPublica with MIL. Kate is interested in a career in investigative journalism covering politics, government, gender issues, LGBTQ+ rights and institutional misuse of power.
Katherine Dailey is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School, earning her Master’s of Science in Journalism in the Medill Investigative Lab with a concentration in data reporting. She is also a fellow at the Investigative Reporting Workshop in Washington, D.C. where she covers inequities in the District’s public and affordable housing systems. She has worked previously with the Chicago Tribune, POLITICO, and the International Press Institute in Vienna, Austria. Katherine, originally from Somerville, N.J., is a recent graduate of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and began her journalism journey as a reporter and editor for The Daily Princetonian. She focuses her reporting on accountability journalism, especially centered on key community issues like housing and education.
Sadie Leite is studying for her Master’s of Science in Journalism at the Medill Investigative Lab at Northwestern University. She graduated from Tufts University in 2024 with an English degree. She started her journalism career at the local newspaper, the Lakeville Journal, in Northwestern Connecticut, where she covered arts, local government, affordable housing and more. While working at the Journal for four years, Sadie also led the books beat as an Arts editor for The Tufts Daily and published award-winning words in the Worcester Business Journal. She studied at the University of Oxford for a year where she wrote for the Oxford Review of Books and the Pembroke Times. Sadie is interested in covering women’s health, alternative angles to mass violence, and publishing.
Sinyi Au is an investigative journalist specializing in data-driven reporting. Currently a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she specializes in investigative reporting with a data journalism concentration, and reports for the Medill Investigative Lab. Sinyi previously covered the Asian asset management industry for the Financial Times’ specialist publication Ignites Asia, and produced in-depth features about global business and technology for Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition. She began her career in breaking news, covering the 2019 Hong Kong protests and the COVID-19 outbreak. As an undergraduate at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, she was awarded the 2019 Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards for a short documentary about autistic students.
Tianyi Wang is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where she reports for the Medill Investigative Lab with a concentration in data journalism. Originally from Chengdu, China, she earned a degree in Media, Journalism, and Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has produced stories for Carolina Connection, The Daily Tar Heel, Carolina Now and Coulture Magazine, covering topics ranging from breaking news and affordable housing to education and business. Tianyi has also gained newsroom experience at WICS-TV, North Carolina Public Radio and China News Service. At Medill, she has reported on systemic failures in the prison and health care systems, Chicago’s elected school board and coal miners’ fight for black lung benefits. Her reporting interests include public health, criminal justice, education and business accountability.
Victoria Malis is a data analyst turned investigative journalist. She is a graduate student at Northwestern University, reporting for the Medill Investigative Lab. Before coming to Medill, Victoria earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from UC San Diego and spent five years analyzing and visualizing supply chain data for corporations. Since shifting her focus from profit optimization to public accountability, she has reported on coal miners’ fight for black lung benefits for Pittsburgh Post Gazette, exposed the need for additional ambulance units on Block Club Chicago, and covered innovative solutions to combat inequality and gentrification for The Fulcrum and Illinois Latino News. Victoria has a strong interest in uncovering healthcare disparities through data-driven reporting.
Zhiyu Solstice Luo is a graduate student at Medill Investigative Lab, Northwestern University. They graduated from New York University Abu Dhabi in 2024 with a B.A. in Creative Writing. In the UAE, they worked as the Editor-in-Chief for The Gazelle and Airport Road, covering Middle Eastern politics, LGBTQ+ legislation and fashion. At Northwestern, they reported on climate change in Austria, LGBTQ+ voices in Chicago and local politics in Springfield, Illinois, besides working towards a concentration in data journalism. They published their first science fiction graphic novel, NOVA of Celestoria, in May 2025. Leading a jet-setter lifestyle that has taken them across the globe in search of underreported angles, they are passionate about international human rights, conservation, mental health and the power of curiosity to unearth exciting stories.
Debbie Cenziper is an associate professor and the director of investigative reporting at Medill. She also oversees the Medill Investigative Lab. Besides teaching, Cenziper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and nonfiction author who writes for The Washington Post. She spent three years at The George Washington University before joining the faculty of Medill.
Over the years, Cenziper’s investigative stories have exposed wrongdoing, prompted Congressional hearings and led to changes in federal and local laws. In her classes at Medill, Cenziper and her students focus on social justice investigative reporting.
Cenziper has won dozens of awards in American print journalism, including the Robert F. Kennedy Award for reporting about human rights and the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting from Harvard University. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 at The Miami Herald for a series of stories about corrupt affordable housing developers who were stealing from the poor. A year before that, she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for stories about dangerous breakdowns in the nation’s hurricane-tracking system.
Cenziper is a frequent speaker at universities, writing conferences and book events. Her first book, “Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality,” (William Morrow, 2016) was named one of the most notable books of the year by The Washington Post. Her second book, “Citizen 865: The Hunt for Hitler’s Hidden Soldiers in America,” was released by Hachette Books in November 2019.
Cenziper is based on Medill’s Washington, D.C. campus, working with undergraduate and graduate students on investigative stories.