Roy W. Howard
Fellowships

Supported by the Scripps Howard Fund in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard, this fellowship program places select graduates of the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland in nonprofit investigative newsrooms for one year. In addition to salary and benefits, fellows receive stipends for training and moving expenses. Up to 10 Howard Center graduates are selected each year in two rounds of fellowships that start in January and July.

*NOTE: Only Howard Center graduates are eligible to apply.

Our Fellows

Albert Serna Jr., OpenSecrets

Serna received his master’s degree in investigative journalism from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in August 2023. A strong supporter of community-focused reporting, Serna looks for stories that impact underserved groups to expose injustice, government failure and abuses of power at all levels. His previous work as an investigative intern with the Tampa Bay Times found a system in Florida that encouraged racially motivated policing. Over nine months, Serna’s investigation of the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners found that the state agency failed to protect the public and hold dentists accountable. Serna begins his fellowship at Open Secrets in January 2024.

Francesca D’Annunzio, Texas Observer

D’Annunzio earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She received her undergraduate degree in the humanities program at the University of Texas. D’Annunzio has reported on deportations in the Dominican Republic, Christian nationalism, the U.S.-Mexico border, right-wing sheriffs, Arizona’s water crisis and zoning and housing policy in Texas. Her work has been published or syndicated in The Guardian US, The Dallas Morning News, Religion News Service, the Global Investigative Journalism Network, the Texas Standard and The Arizona Republic. D’Annunzio begins her fellowship at Texas Observer in January 2024.

Noel Lyn Smith, Inside Climate News

Smith earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northern Arizona University. While at ASU, Smith participated in the Carnegie-Knight News21 program, where she reported on Indigenous women navigating the complex maze of abortion care a year after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Before returning to ASU to earn her master’s degree, Smith was a reporter for 15 years. She worked for the Farmington Daily Times and the Navajo Times. At both publications, she reported about the Navajo Nation. Her reporting has won awards from the New Mexico Press Association. Smith begins her fellowship at Inside Climate News in January 2024.

Caitlin Thompson, NPR

Thompson received her master’s degree in investigative journalism from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s also a graduate of Tufts University, where she studied international relations and modern Russian politics. As an investigative reporter and audio journalist, Thompson has reported internationally and across the U.S. She spent a summer working with the data journalism team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she wrote stories about housing and labor. As a Global Reporting Centre Investigative Fellow, she reported on the child welfare agency in New Mexico. Previously, she was a reporter for Coda Story based in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she covered surveillance and disinformation. She was on the team at KAZU, an NPR member station in California that won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for wildfire coverage. Thompson begins her fellowship at NPR in January 2024.

Brendon Derr, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Derr earned his master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. As a reporter at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, Derr worked on the award-winning project “Little Victims Everywhere.” The investigation exposed systemic problems with the federal government’s investigation and prosecution of child sexual abuse cases in Indian Country. It was honored with several collegiate and professional journalism awards. He also reported on the prisons and jails team for The New York Times’ COVID-tracking effort, which won the newsroom a Pulitzer Prize in public service. Most recently, Derr worked as a data reporter for the Houston Chronicle. He’ll begin his fellowship at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting in July 2023.

Jessica Alvarado Gamez, Chicago Public Media

Alvarado Gamez earned her master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She was a reporter for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, covering housing barriers in Arizona and national policing practices. She also reported on police reform for the Carnegie-Knight News21 Program as a Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow, specializing in documentary production and photography. Her work has been featured by The Associated Press, Univision Arizona, Arizona PBS and the City of Phoenix PHXTV. Beginning in July 2023, Alvarado Gamez will work as a fellow for Chicago Public Media.

Jonmaesha Beltran, Wisconsin Watch

Beltran graduated with master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. While completing her degrees, Beltran was a social justice reporter for Cronkite News, an investigative reporter for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and a Pulliam Fellow for The Arizona Republic. She won an Arizona Press Club Award and a Society of Professional Journalists 2020 Mark of Excellence Award for her reporting on the experiences of street medics during the Black Lives Matter protests in Phoenix. Beltran began her fellowship at Wisconsin Watch in January.

Tirzah Christopher, NPR

Christopher graduated with a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. An investigative journalist, Christopher grew up speaking English, Tamil and Hindi in her native India and learned Arabic and Malayalam in the United Arab Emirates, where she lived prior to moving to the United States. She has reported on international immigration in Mexico, housing in Arizona and was a Howard G. Buffett fellow, covering police reform for News21, a Cronkite-run national reporting program. Christopher also reported on state politics for The Arizona Republic. She has an interest in data, audio and documentary storytelling. She began her fellowship at National Public Radio in January.

Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News

Myskow earned a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He has previously reported for The Arizona Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education and The State Press, the student newspaper at ASU, which was named Best Independent Online Student Publication in the 2021 Mark of Excellence Awards by the Society of Professional Journalists. He co-bylined an investigation on how ASU handles sexual assault cases, which won the Arizona Press Club student investigative reporting award. He was also a finalist for both Investigative Reporters and Editors’ 2021 student-small category and SPJ’s 2021 Regional 11 Mark of Excellence Award for online in-depth reporting.

Read some of his work here:

Isaac Simonelli

Isaac Simonelli, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Isaac Stone Simonelli is a reporter and editor working in data journalism, digital journalism and photojournalism. In the last decade, he has led community news teams in producing digital and print stories in the United States and Thailand. He earned a master’s degree in Investigative Journalism from Arizona State University in December 2021. Previously, he was the editor of the Kodiak Daily Mirror after a brief stint as a copy editor for the publication’s sister newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Isaac joined the team after spending five years working in the news industry in Phuket, Thailand. As the managing editor of the Phuket Gazette, Isaac transformed the publication to a digital-first mindset and focused resources on enterprise stories. In addition to his work in the newsroom, Isaac has written for various publications including Alaska Business Magazine, Climbing Magazine, ADVMOTO Magazine, and MotoSpirit Magazine. His work has been published by The Washington Post, Inside Climate News and The Associated Press.

Read some of his work here:

Farah Eltohamy, Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting

Farah Eltohamy graduated from Arizona State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism. During her time at ASU, Eltohamy interned for NPR, Texas Tribune and the Arizona Republic. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and National Geographic. Farah won the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2020 award for excellence in online media reporting.

Farah has been a part of two major projects at Reveal:

Jimmy Cloutier, OpenSecrets

Jimmy earned his undergraduate degree in English from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2014 and his master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Cronkite School in December 2021. He served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Armenia from 2015 to 2017. Before making a career switch to journalism, he worked in education and publishing. While completing his studies at ASU’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, he reported on police surveillance and the U.S. oil and gas industry. As an investigative fellow and data journalist for News21 at ASU, he analyzed census data to identify economic disparities between families living through the pandemic and reported on the lingering toll of COVID-19. Jimmy began his Roy W. Howard fellowship with OpenSecrets in early 2022.

Read some of his work here:

Laura Kraegel, WBUR

Originally from Illinois, Laura earned her master’s degree in investigative journalism in December 2021 from the Cronkite School, where she investigated the environmental impact of flaring by oil and gas companies in the U.S. She previously spent about five years covering local news for KUCB and KNOM in Unalaska and Nome, Alaska. She earned her bachelor’s degree in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Laura began her Roy W. Howard fellowship in early 2022 with WBUR, Boston’s NPR affiliate.

Read some of her work here:

Aydali Campa, Inside Climate News

Aydali received her undergraduate degree from the Cronkite School in 2018 and her master’s degree in investigative journalism in December 2021. She was picked to be one of two Roy W. Howard fellows at Inside Climate News, a position she began in early 2022. Her experiences growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border and teaching third and fourth grade in Oklahoma City inform her reporting. She won a regional award and a national award for a feature about students crossing the U.S.-Mexico border daily to attend school in Arizona. Aydali has used her multimedia skills and Spanish fluency to cover education, COVID-19 and natural-disaster recovery for local and national publications. Her work can be seen in The Wall Street Journal, The Arizona Republic and Arizona PBS. Aydali completed her fellowship at the end of 2022 and was hired by Inside Climate News as its new Chicago-based Midwest environmental justice reporter.

Read some of her work here:

Nicole Sadek, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Nicole was born in Egypt and raised in South Carolina and earned her bachelor’s degree in international studies and creative writing from Emory University in May 2020. She completed her master’s degree in investigative journalism from the Cronkite School in December 2021. Nicole served as editor-in-chief of The Emory Wheel, which received nine Georgia College Press Association and three Society of Professional Journalists awards during her tenure, and has reported for Bloomberg Government, The Arizona Republic, Georgia Public Broadcasting and Kathimerini, Greece’s English-language daily newspaper. Nicole began as a Roy W. Howard fellow at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in January 2022. She joined the investigations team at Bloomberg Law in January 2023.

Read some of her work here:

Zoha Tunio, Inside Climate News

Zoha graduated as a Fulbright scholar from the Cronkite School in December 2021 with a master’s degree in investigative journalism. She was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in media studies in 2018. Following her graduation, she worked as an editorial assistant for the sociopolitical monthly magazine Newsline, where she co-wrote a cover story about the #MeToo movement in Pakistan, produced a special report on access to safe abortions and reported on emerging start-ups across the country. In early 2022, Zoha was picked to be one of two Roy W. Howard fellows at Inside Climate News, reporting from Karachi.

Read some of her work here:

Grace Oldham

Grace Oldham, Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting

Grace graduated from ASU in May 2020 with her bachelor’s in journalism and in May 2021 with her master’s in mass communication. During her time at ASU, she contributed to a documentary on youth suicide in Arizona, reported on local humanitarian aid efforts at the southern border and worked in the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism for two semesters. She also held multiple internships at The Arizona Republic, reporting on state politics and higher education. Oldham began her fellowship with Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting in July 2021.

“Being a Roy Howard Fellow has given me the unique opportunity to continue developing my skills as an investigative journalist in a high powered newsroom, working alongside some of the nation’s top investigative reporters and editors. Not only are the constant support and resources unmatched, but working inside this type of newsroom has taught me so much about what it takes on both an individual and institutional level to create journalism that drives impact. I think gaining those insights so early in my career is invaluable.”

Read some of her work here:

Katie Surma

Katie Surma, Inside Climate News

Katie graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in August 2020 with a master’s degree in investigative journalism. In early 2021, she began her Roy W. Howard fellowship at Inside Climate News, one of two Howard Center graduates selected for that position. Katie, who holds law degrees from ASU and Duquesne University, was a natural fit for Inside Climate News’ environmental justice reporting initiative. Prior to starting her MAIJ degree at Cronkite, Katie was a practicing attorney for 10 years. Katie is now a full-time reporter for Inside Climate News, focusing on international environmental law and justice.

“Being a Roy Howard Fellow has been an extraordinary experience. I’ve had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the best in the business and to immediately put into practice the skills I learned in the Howard Center. I’ve grown professionally and picked up invaluable experience.”

Read some of her work here:

Helen Wieffering

Helen Wieffering, The Associated Press

Helen earned her Cronkite master’s degree in investigative journalism in December 2020 and was selected by the AP to spend her fellowship year as a data journalist on the global investigative team. Previously, Helen worked as a health data analyst in Washington, D.C., where she also freelanced for local outlets covering housing and government affairs. Helen graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Bowdoin College with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in computer science. Helen was hired as a full-time reporter on AP’s global investigations team in January 2022.

“I can’t say enough good things about the Roy Howard fellowship or where it’s taken me. The fellowship gave me a chance to do investigative reporting on a national scale – something unthinkable before my time in journalism school and still astonishing to me now. I’m able to do work that feels meaningful and far-reaching, and that challenges me to be a better journalist.”

Read some of her work here:

Austin Fast

Austin Fast, National Public Radio

Austin joined NPR’s investigations team as the inaugural Roy W. Howard Fellow in January 2021. He previously reported for KJZZ, an NPR affiliate in Phoenix, and KDLG in Dillingham, Alaska. He’s also written breaking news for a Cincinnati TV station and taught English overseas with the Peace Corps. Austin has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international studies from Miami University (Ohio) and earned his master’s degree in investigative journalism from Cronkite in December 2020. Austin was hired as a full-time reporter on NPR’s investigative team, specializing in data analysis.

Read some of his work here:

Chloe Jones

Chloe Jones, PBS Newshour

Chloe received her undergraduate degree from the Cronkite School in 2019 and her master’s degree in investigative journalism in December 2020. She previously worked for KJZZ public radio, an NPR affiliate in Phoenix, and the Arizona Republic, part of the USA Network. While still a student, she reported on the summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests for the Arizona Mirror. She also covered the Central American refugee crisis, with reporting from Peru and Panama, and sustainability topics for Cronkite News. As a graduate student, she investigated the juvenile justice system with News21, and helped produce the Howard Center’s investigation into how federal COVID-19 aid was being used to help homeless people. She worked with the Newshour’s digital staff. After completing her fellowship at the PBS NewsHour, Chloe became the courts and crime reporter at The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California.

Read some of her work here:

Agya Aning, Inside Climate News

Agya graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in December 2020 with a master’s degree in investigative journalism. He was picked to be one of two Roy W. Howard fellows at Inside Climate News, a position he began in early 2021. Agya joined Inside Climate News’ environmental justice beat, and he later won a National Press Foundation environmental justice reporting grant. Prior to enrolling at Cronkite, Agya taught English in Taiwan and China for seven years, and he is fluent in Mandarin. Agya was hired by Inside Climate News as a full-time reporter based in Baltimore upon completion of his fellowship.

“The Howard Center gave me the chance to professionalize everything I learned in the first two semesters of the master’s investigative program — interviewing, multimedia, deep research, writing, and more. By the time the Howard Center ended, my reporting standards had risen dramatically, particularly when it came to fact-checking. Having the chance to work on a semester-long project prepared me well for my fellowship at Inside Climate News, where I was able to begin with little guidance needed.” In 2023 Agya became the inaugural editing fellow at The Trace.

Read some of his work here:

Quotation

“I went to grad school so that I could do stories with actual stakes,” Agya says. “I couldn’t help but think how well Cronkite and the MAIJ program prepared me for this work. The Howard Center in particular instilled within me a greater degree of rigor. … The Howard Center fortified what I learned in the first two semesters and brought me to a professional level.”

Agya Aning

Inside Climate News

Quotation

“My background in international criminal law is coming in handy, as are all of the tools, skills and lessons I learned at Cronkite. I can’t thank you guys and the Howard Family/Scripps-Howard enough for this opportunity…it has been one of the finest things to come my way. I’m just learning all the time and I’ve never been so happy in all my professional life. This has really changed my life.”

Katie Surma

Inside Climate News

Austin Fast
Quotation

“I wanted to tell stories on NPR for years. The Roy Howard Fellowship finally got me there, learning from some of the best reporters and editors in the country. And the investigative and data journalism skills I gained in the Howard Center convinced NPR to keep me on even after my fellowship year ended.”

Austin Fast

National Public Radio

Quotation

“That our Howard fellows have already played such central roles in our most important enterprise effort is remarkable—and way beyond what might have been expected of fellows only recently out of graduate school. Agya and Katie struck us as exceptional when we interviewed them late last year, and they have proven us right. Both have quickly become important members of our newsroom and highly valued colleagues. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and their energy inspiring.”

Vernon Loeb

Executive Editor, Inside Climate News

Quotation

“Austin’s performance so far at NPR has been outstanding, and more than lives up to the expectations we had when the fellowship was first proposed. His knack for reporting original threads – in particular, for radio – places him beyond the skill level we normally expect of entry-level employees in the newsroom.”

Robert Little

Investigative Editor, NPR

Quotation

“Helen has become a well-integrated, contributing member of AP’s investigative team. She also contributes on a regular basis to the data team and has jumped in on major, breaking news stories, like the Derek Chauvin trial.”

Ron Nixon

Global Investigative Editor, The Associated Press