Jodi L. Upton, the Knight Chair in Data and Explanatory Journalism, has worked in data journalism for more than 20 years, most recently as the senior database editor at USA TODAY, where she led an investigative team on stories from mass killings to Medicare fraud to football coach contracts. Her team also worked on breaking news, investigative projects and data-driven interactives. Previously, she worked at The Detroit News and The Flint Journal, where she worked on stories from 9/11 response times to grade inflation.

Upton was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University and a visiting scholar at Indiana University’s National Sports Journalism Center. During a gap year, she did stories on an indigenous tribe in Paraguay and was a trainer for Investigative Reporters and Editors. Projects she has led or worked on have won many U.S. and international awards.