If democracy dies in darkness, investigative journalists are often the ones keeping the lights on.

Maggie Mulvihill, an associate professor of the practice of computational journalism who has broken many stories over a decades-long career, created the COM’s first data journalism course in 2015 and is working to make sure COM can offer paths for students who are interested in careers in data or investigative journalism. This involves expanding course offerings, bringing in working journalists to speak to students and even starting the process of establishing a campus chapter of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), a national membership organization. Perhaps the most important path offered to students is the opportunity to work on deeply reported investigative and data stories. 

In 2024, faculty from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland invited BU student journalists from Mulvihill’s data journalism course and an investigative reporting course taught by Shannon Dooling, an associate professor of the practice of investigative reporting, to dig into lobbyist-paid travel practices of members of the US House of Representatives. In April, the resulting series of articles—“Planes, Trains and Luxury Stays: Despite reforms, lobbyists still involved in House travel”—placed first among large-school student groups in the IRE Awards. 

Students break a lot of great stories. Just be curious, ask questions and don’t assume that because you’re a student, somebody won’t talk to you.

Maggie Mulvihill

“We looked at private entities that pay for members of Congress to travel, from nonprofits to educational institutions, many of whom have lobbyists on their boards or lobbyists as employees,” says Mulvihill. Thirty students across the two classes pored over thousands of pages of records, including more than 600 individual trip disclosures from members of Congress. 

In the five-part series, which includes a searchable database of congressional travel records, the student journalists found that members of Congress often bring family members along on lobbyist-funded trips, which ethics experts told them is “nothing more than influence peddling.” 

“They’re supposed to report these payments, which for a member of Congress and a wife or husband could be twenty grand per trip, as income,” Mulvihill says. “We couldn’t get a straight answer from any member of Congress about whether or not they did that.”

From BU to Breaking Newsrooms

The journalism department’s success training investigative journalists is already evident in the alumni who now regularly break stories for national publications. 

Just a year after graduating from BU, Kirsten Berg (’11) worked alongside her former professor, Mulvihill, to report on deep inequities in the penalties passed down by Massachusetts judges and juries to juveniles convicted of first degree murder when they were 15 or younger. The New England Center for Investigative Reporting series—“Our Youngest Killers”—also appeared in The Boston Globe and won several awards. “She was a natural—just had the stuff,” Mulvihill recalls. 

In May 2024, as a research reporter with the nonprofit ProPublica, Berg was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its investigation into the ethics and oversight of the Supreme Court. 

Mulvihill introduced Shwetha Surendran (’22) to ESPN investigative reporter Paula Levigne at an IRE conference several years ago. Just a few months later, as an incoming journalism master’s student at American University, Surendran was named the first recipient of the ESPN investigative journalism fellowship. Today, as a writer in ESPN’s investigative and enterprise unit, Surendran has covered the connection between high-profile athletes and cryptocurrencies, how a snowstorm affected betting results in a January 2024 NFL game, and athletes, such as baseball star Shohei Ohtani, who have been scammed. “She’s one of our huge success stories, and now she’s breaking stories left and right at ESPN—all because of this encounter in a hallway at this conference,” Mulvihill says. 

Expanding Opportunities to Dig

COM may soon have a new way for student investigative journalists to receive tools and support to take with them into their reporting careers. BU is one of nine schools where IRE is looking to launch student chapters in a pilot program intended to “introduce more students to the organization and bring investigative training to college campuses,” according to a press release. Once the University formally recognizes the group, Mulvihill says students will have access to thousands of tip sheets, data sets, examples of investigative and data stories, trainings, conferences and mentorship opportunities with professional journalists. As cochair of IRE’s Academic Task Force subcommittee, Mulvihill has led the charge to see these student chapters spring up not only at BU, but across the country. 

“What I really love about IRE, and why I’m such a champion of it, is that it doesn’t matter if you’re at the Cape Cod Times or a little nonprofit or the New York Times, you’re treated the same—every reporter counts,” she says. “Veteran members like me know how critical it is for this next generation of journalists to come behind us and do good work.”

Amanda Brucculeri (’26) is part of that next generation. The journalism major took Mulvihill’s data journalism course but says she is interested in all aspects of the industry and is eager to get involved with an IRE chapter on campus to learn about investigative journalism outside of class.

“I hope this chapter will teach students the necessary tools to be a good investigative journalist, like visualization tools and basic coding, which are not really taught in classes—besides data journalism,” Brucculeri says.

Journalism Chair Brian McGrory praised the expansion of IRE on campus.

“We have a faculty that is uncommonly accomplished in terms of accountability reporting, and talented students who are ready to hone their investigative skills on even more and better stories,” he says. “Having our own IRE chapter is a smart, logical next step for our program.”

Mulvihill anticipates interest from COM students in the IRE campus chapter will be high. For one, she already takes one of the largest and most engaged groups of students to IRE conferences each year. And a COM event in April featuring award-winning current and former Boston Globe investigative reporters Walter Robinson, Patricia Wen and Stephen Kurkjian (CAS’66) drew upwards of 50 students.

“Students asked a lot of great questions, and these three editors were really honest with them that, number one, they can do this work as students. Students break a lot of great stories,” Mulvihill says. “Just be curious, ask questions and don’t assume that because you’re a student, somebody won’t talk to you.”