Brooke Williams

Brooke Williams is an associate professor of the practice of computational journalism at Boston University College of Communication and an investigative reporter specializing in data journalism. Her work has contributed to a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, as well as a George Polk Award and a Gerald Loeb Award, among others. In the classroom, Brooke emphasizes not only developing technical and reporting skills, but also producing publishable work — from creating features and hard news stories to deep-dive investigations and data-driven projects. Throughout her career, Brooke has used investigative, data-driven journalism as a tool for institutional accountability and public access. Whether reporting on government contracting, prosecutorial misconduct, or environmental risk, her work consistently reflects this focus.   

With MISI, Brooke investigated environmental change in New England waterways using satellite data and a tool called CyFi (short for cyanobacteria finder). She is working on mapping and predicting harmful algae blooms across the region. Her project aimed to translate complex environmental data into digestible and accessible, public-facing information as a demonstration that data journalism plays a critical role in identifying ecological risks and raising community awareness.