Medill News Service Reporters
Jacques Abou-Rizk
Jacques Abou-Rizk is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. He is a Lebanese American and covers national security and the Middle East. Prior to Medill, Abou-Rizk graduated Vassar College with a B.A. in international relations with a focus on Middle East politics. He was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Miscellany News. In addition to Vassar’s newspaper, Abou-Rizk’s work has appeared in Capitol News Illinois, The Beirut Political Review, Columbia’s Law Blog, NPR Illinois, The Fulcrum and Crain’s Chicago Business.
George C. Alexandrakis
George Alexandrakis is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. Born and raised in Chicago, George graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2025. As a reporter at Medill News Service, he covers congressional politics and elections.
Olivia Ardito
Olivia Ardito is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School, specializing in politics, policy, and foreign affairs. After growing up in Boston, she graduated from McGill University in 2025 with a B.A. in political science. Olivia reported for the university’s student newspaper, The Tribune. She spent two summers interning in Washington, D.C., first for Congressman Jim McGovern in 2023 and second writing op-eds based out of the National Press Club in 2024. She has bylines in the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, NPR Illinois, and Capitol News Illinois. Her work focuses on social justice and policy.
Kaitlin Bender-Thomas
Kaitlin Bender-Thomas is a politics reporter for Medill News Service and a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, specializing in politics, policy, and foreign affairs. She earned her B.S. in journalism and political science from Northwestern in 2025. Previously, she reported for Cleveland Magazine, The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern News Network, CNBC, WTOC-TV, and Capitol News Illinois.
Nicole Cheah
Nicole Cheah covers national security for the Medill News Service. She has interned with The South China Morning Post, the Council of Europe and The Straits Times. Nicole is a junior at Northwestern majoring in journalism and international studies. She grew up in Singapore.
Reece Dower
Reece Dower is a national security reporter for the Medill News Service and a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in the politics, policy and foreign affairs specialization. He is from San Diego and graduated with a B.A. from UCLA in political science with a specialization in international relations. Before Medill, he served four years in the U.S. Coast Guard, working as an engineering technician on a coastal patrol boat and later as an intelligence analyst for the branch’s cyber command. He has bylines in Capitol News Illinois, NPR Illinois, WTTW and the Illinois Times.
Georgia Epiphaniou
Georgia Epiphaniou is a graduate journalism student at Northwestern University’s Medill School, and specializes in politics, policy and foreign affairs. Born and raised in Limassol, Cyprus, she moved to the U.S. in 2022 to pursue a degree in international relations at Boston University. She previously interned at the United Nations and at UNESCO, experiences that now inform her reporting. She covers foreign affairs in Washington, DC for Medill News Service. During her time at Medill, she was a fellow at Capitol News Illinois.
Sam Freeman
Sam Freeman is a graduate student at Northwestern University Medill, specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. She received her bachelor’s degrees in journalism and art history from DePaul University, where she was editor-in-chief of the collegiate magazine 14 East. Her work has appeared in Capitol News Illinois, NPR Illinois, Southern Illinois, Yahoo News, WTTW and the Daily Herald.
Jamie Gareh
Jamie Gareh is a graduate student at Northwestern University, specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. He graduated from Tufts University where he majored in political science and previously attended the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, specializing in audio documentary. Before starting his graduate degree, he worked at the Freakonomics Radio Network. He enjoys multimedia journalism, including video, writing and audio.
Wisdom Howell
Wisdom Howell is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, specializing in politics, policy, and foreign affairs reporting. Prior to joining Medill News Service, he spent three years as a legal reporter in San Francisco for the Daily Journal, covering critical litigation against some of the world’s biggest companies. Wisdom earned his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He covers business and technology in Washington, D.C.
Matthew Junkroski
Matthew Junkroski is a graduate student at Northwestern University in the D.C. Investigative Lab specialization, where he works on a team alongside ProPublica reporter Debbie Cenziper. He graduated from North Carolina State University in 2024, with a B.A. in English focused on creative writing. Prior to Medill, he worked as a staff writer for N.C. State’s newspaper, Technician, and interned at INDY Week in Durham. Currently, his reporting at the Medill News Service focuses on social justice.
Yuqing Liu
Yuqing Liu is a reporter for the Medill News Service covering business and technology. She is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where she focuses on politics, policy, and foreign affairs. Her work has taken her from breaking news and culture in Beijing to health care in Chicago and education policy in Latvia. Her stories have appeared in Phoenix Weekly, Arete News, and South Side Weekly. Born and raised in Beijing, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Rutgers University.
Gabriel Matias Castilho
Gabriel Matias Castilho is a graduate student at Northwestern Medill in the politics, policy and foreign affairs specialization. He is also a Brazilian polyglot and specializes in the coverage of the intersection between climate, energy, utilities, technology and politics. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a double degree in political science and journalism. He has previously worked on Capitol News Illinois and the Wake Magazine.
Zara Norman
Zara Norman is a graduate student in Northwestern University’s Medill Investigative Lab and covers health for Medill News Service. She previously covered housing statewide for the Bangor Daily News and general assignment for the Morning Sentinel. She has written for publications including ProPublica, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Boston Globe and South Side Weekly.
Rebecka Pieder
Rebecka Pieder is a journalist pursuing a Master of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School, covering foreign policy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, where she majored in political science and minored in communications and Russian culture. She previously worked in corporate communications in Stockholm, Sweden and is now based in Washington DC.
Jaylyn Preslicka
Jaylyn Preslicka is a graduate journalism student at Northwestern University reporting for the D.C. Investigative Lab. She graduated from California State University, Long Beach in 2025, with degrees in journalism and sociology. Last year, Jaylyn worked as a solutions editor and reporter for the Long Beach Current in a position funded by the Solutions Journalism Network. During her time at the Current, she covered breaking news, student administration, mental health and campus investigations. In addition to her work in the Investigative Lab, she interns for My Clothing Archive, a fashion-based research Substack. For Medill News Services, she covers politics.
Naisha Roy
Naisha Roy is a graduate student in the Medill Investigative Lab with a concentration in data journalism. She loves covering immigration, legislation and civic engagement, and has previously worked for the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, Forsyth County News, amNY and Atlanta Magazine, with bylines in ProPublica as well. Before Medill, she went to NYU and studied journalism and Spanish-Linguistics.
Elena Tittel
Elena Tittel is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, pursuing a master’s of science in journalism with a concentration in data journalism and is in the Medill Investigative Lab, D.C. Originally from Ridgefield, CT, she graduated in May 2025 from Skidmore College with a B.A. in English and Psychology. Previously, she has worked at the Hyde Park Herald, The Fauquier Times, The Saratogian, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Franky in New York and The Skidmore News and will be working this summer at South Dakota News Watch. With a strong passion for accountability reporting, she is interested in covering mental health and social justice, committed to telling the stories of those who may not otherwise have their voices heard.
Erika Tulfo
Erika Tulfo covers business & technology for the Medill News Service. She is a graduate journalism student at Northwestern Medill, specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs. She has previously interned at CNN and CNBC, and was recently a reporting fellow at Capitol News Illinois. Before Medill, she was a journalism and history student at Fordham University. Erika is originally from Manila, Philippines, but she has also called Nagoya, Japan, and New York City home.
@tulfoerika on X
@erikatulfo on Instagram
Amy L. Wong
Amy L. Wong is a graduate student at Northwestern Medill in the politics, policy and foreign affairs specialization. Wong covers politics for Medill News Service. Her work has been published by NPR Illinois. Originally from Los Angeles, Wong graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and history and a minor in education studies.