When (MND) Assistant Professor first studied journalism at the University of Missouri, he wanted to be a science journalist. After taking a computer-assisted journalism course, however, he realized that there is power in numbers.

“Journalism isn’t just [that] you talk to some people and they say whatever they want and you sort out where the truth falls,” he says. “You can use data to see if people are full of [it] or not.”

Richards started out as a data reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, where his work with fellow reporter Marshall Allen covering underreported preventable injuries in Nevada hospitals received a 2011 . From there, he brought his investigative skills to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the Chicago Tribune and NerdWallet, a financial advice site that features editorial content.

Now, he’s sharing what he’s learned with the next generation of investigative reporters at Newhouse.

“I think every journalist should understand the fundamentals [of data journalism],” Richards says. “[They should know] how to do basic accountability work… how to dig, how to get public records and analyze them [and how to] turn that into [a narrative] that the public will want to read.”

While the spotlight on data journalism since the 2016 election can make it seem like data is a new player on the horizon of investigative reporting, Richards says it’s actually been around for a while, going back to the .

“They looked at mileage reimbursement,” Richards says. “Different senators and representatives would all have to go to the capitol for the congressional session. A reporter did a basic analysis to show… who was claiming too much mileage.”

Mileage grift among 19th century politicians was just the beginning. Data-based stories have had tremendous social impact through the years, says Richards, noting the work investigative journalist Philip Meyer did after the Detroit riot of 1967. Meyer incorporated social science into surveys, the answers to which he then crunched in a mainframe to show that the accepted narrative that

“The conventional wisdom was that it was it was primarily the lower classes, the uneducated who had participated,” Richards says. “[Meyer] basically did a field questionnaire like some researcher here at the university would do, and he found that that was not the case at all.”

MND professor and Knight Chair in Data and Explanatory Journalism says that while using numbers in a story or including an infographic can be considered data journalism, the role of data in journalism is much more complex.

“To me, the highest and best purpose of data journalism is when it’s used in conjunction with investigative reporting,” says Upton. “It allows us to tell stories and answer questions that we could not get through traditional journalism methods.”

The transparency involved in providing numbers that anyone can review is another big advantage to incorporating data into stories, Upton says.

“In a culture where we don’t necessarily have a lot of trust in our media, in any of our publications, in our social media… here’s an opportunity to look at the data, go through it yourself, look it up,” she says. “That’s a huge advantage.”

When asked what he sees in the future for data journalism, Richards expects that computers scraping data from various public sources may eventually function almost like a research assistant, bringing data back to a reporter who can then figure out what it means and how to report it.

“I don’t think you’re ever going to have some sort of script that’s going to pick up the phone and call a source and have that conversation with them,” Richards says, “but you could have things that are constantly in the background retrieving information, bringing things to your attention, flagging things for you. I think that’s something that could be powerful and transformative, especially in something like local news.”

The best part of the process for Richards is when the data finally comes through and it’s time to sort through the numbers and find the story.

“[Writers] enjoy having a blank sheet of paper in front of them with the promise of what it could hold,” he says. “My favorite part is, what’s in there? That I’ll be the person to find it and share it with others.”

“I’d say data in a lot of cases is just like any other source,” Richards says. “It’s not a human, but it’s a source for your story.”

As director tells the story, the project that would define 10 years of her professional life began in 2007, when now-retired professor Steve Davis wanted to get his news reporting students off campus.

“All these students would interview their roommate or a professor from another class,” Kang says. “[Davis] decided to cover the South Side [to make students] get off campus and talk to real people.”

Syracuse’s South Side lies just southwest of the Syracuse University campus, and was designated as the neighborhood with the nation’s highest concentrated poverty among black and Hispanic populations by the 2015 Century Foundation report “.”

“The South Side has traditionally been under-covered by Syracuse’s mainstream media with the majority of coverage focused on incidents of violence, drugs and poverty,” says Kang.

At the end of that first semester covering the South Side, Davis printed a collection of those stories and distributed them in the community. The response was so enthusiastic that he decided to make the project more permanent, and was able to officially launch the paper in 2009, at which point Kang came on as director. Now, The Stand is celebrating 10 years serving the South Side, with a website for regular coverage of events in the community and eight issues per year of a print version with more in-depth feature stories.

“The print issue is really a chance to not just cover ‘this happened,’ but why is this policy being put in place? How is going to affect the residents?” Kang says. “Talking to the people and getting their voices heard.”

Putting out a regular newspaper is a herculean task, and Kang serves as something of an orchestra conductor for the combination of students, volunteers and community members who generate the content. Kang assembles story ideas and assigns them to students from an advanced news reporting class. Once the articles are written, they go to professor ’s editing class for line editing and fact checking. When the print version is ready to be assembled, Munno’s class also prepares the layout. Kang supervises the entire process from beginning to end, and once the print version comes out, she starts over again.

In addition to the students who pick up the South Side beat as part of their coursework, volunteers are a big part of what keeps the newspaper running. Reporting for The Stand is a path to experience, professional work samples and, occasionally, accolades; in April, work from The Stand received .

While the original inspiration behind the project was getting the students off campus to tell stories about people whose lived experience was different from their own, the project has grown to be more than an educational exercise.

“It’s a mutual benefit,” says Kang. “Community members can write, or they can suggest stories.”

South Side residents provide content, such as the music column “,” and participate in regular features, as with the , which challenges the cultural narrative of absent black fathers.

“A lot of the images that came out of , were black fathers playing with their children, being actively involved,” Kang says. “People said, ‘This isn’t what we see in the media or portrayed on TV,’ so we launched the Fatherhood Series. Those have been some of my favorite interviews to do.”

Moving forward, Kang is in talks with a consultant, paid for by a , to increase student volunteer engagement. But mostly, she just wants to keep The Stand doing what it does best: keeping local journalism alive.

“[Students] can walk three blocks and interview people and come back and write their stories. It’s a great project to get that experience and sustain local journalism.”

In the end, Kang says, her favorite part of her work comes back to the community she serves.

“Just hearing from readers or hearing from people that we’ve interviewed,” she says. “‘That’s my story, that’s what I wanted to share. No one’s ever told my story.’”

Six students from the Newhouse School have been selected to attend the , an annual event featuring talks, panels and presentations with some of the world’s most influential people.

Jennifer Grygiel, assistant professor of communications in the Newhouse School, worked with TIME to help launch the “Rising Stars” program, which looks for high-potential next generation leaders. The following Newhouse students were selected:

• Engy Adham Rabie Mafouz, a graduate student in television, radio and film;
• Dakota Chambers, a first-year student in television, radio and film;
• Kelsey Davis, a senior in television, radio and film;
• Rashika Jaipuriar, a senior in broadcast and digital journalism;
• Ivana Pino, a senior in newspaper and online journalism; and
• Kenyona Tena Aundrea Chaney, a junior in public relations.

Davis, who is CEO of , an agency dedicated to connecting collegiate creatives with the brands that want to reach Gen Z consumers, says she was excited when she learned she would be going to the summit: “I hope to network and meet a lot of people. My goal is to expand my connections in New York City and potentially expand my clientele portfolio for CLLCTVE.”

The TIME 100 Summit will take place on Tuesday, April 23, in New York City and feature interviews and panels with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, producer and actress Tyra Banks, and screenwriter and producer Ryan Murphy, among other special guests.

When Stefanie Grafstein heard about , a new vertical video workshop launched last year by media partners and , she jumped at the chance to apply.

“I realized that shooting television vertically could be the next big step in the industry and I wanted to have the opportunity to make my mark in this new platform,” Grafstein says.

Last summer, Instagram announced , an app made to deliver long-form, vertical video content designed to be viewed on phones. Through the VerticalU program, content creators travel to Los Angeles to train with industry professionals and work with a BuzzFeed mentor to develop a vertical video series. The program funds the shooting of the projects, which premiere in New York and on IGTV in March. Grafstein learned of the opportunity when Maycie Timpone, director of social media for BuzzFeed, visited Professor BuzzFeed: Future Media Skills class, which Grafstein took last semester.

“In a way, it almost [felt like] more of an internship [than a course],” Grafstein says. “We had the opportunity to speak with staff from all different parts of the company and write as contributors for .”

After having such a fantastic experience in the class, Grafstein didn’t hesitate to develop an idea for her application to VerticalU. Grafstein’s winning proposal, ReCollections, is a series about extreme collectors, all shot in vertical format and intended to be viewed on a phone. Grafstein went to Los Angeles for the kickoff course, an intensive five-day workshop taught by experts at BuzzFeed and Instagram, and filmed the episodes while at home in New York.

“Being at BuzzFeed for the week was amazing because we truly were treated like employees and not just visitors,” Grafstein says. “We attended training sessions on how to create vertical video and worked with Instagram to develop our social media skills and online presence.”

Grafstein, who is studying abroad London this semester, will work remotely with her mentor, a BuzzFeed producer in Los Angeles, to finish the series before the premiere in March.

“I truly believe that this opportunity would have not been possible without the unique courses and amazing professors that Newhouse offers,” Grafstein says. “Being thrown into a professional environment can be intimidating for some, but I feel that Newhouse has prepared me to conquer anything.”