The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is pleased to announce the Fall 2025 cohort of Shorenstein Fellows.
Shorenstein Fellows join the center for a year of research, events, and engagement with HKS students, faculty, and the wider university community. This semester’s new cohort includes technologists, behavioral scientists, content creators, and journalists.
Center Director Nancy Gibbs celebrated the new and returning Shorenstein Center fellows, saying “as the information landscape continues to be at the crux of our global concerns, this cohort’s diverse and expert perspectives on the ways essential information is created, disseminated, and used will inform and enliven the center’s research and programming.”
Allison Abbott is a civic technologist and designer who helped build IRS Direct File, allowing taxpayers to file returns online directly with the IRS. She previously served at the White House U.S. Digital Service, where she worked on projects ranging from reunifying children after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan to reducing administrative burdens in childcare and food assistance programs. Recognized with a DCFemTech Award and as a two-time SXSW speaker, Abbott has lectured at Georgetown on design and policy. At Shorenstein, she will examine how the delivery of effective government services shapes public trust, exploring collaborations between journalists and technologists to improve public understanding of civic infrastructure.
Arun Venkataraman is the Global Lead for Emerging Voices and Research at the Google News Initiative. Over the past decade, has played multiple roles in Google’s work with the news ecosystem: spearheading the Google News Initiative’s investment in Latin America, leading the Global Digital Growth Program, and leading strategy at the Google News Lab. His work spans leading industry efforts to deepen understanding of the sustainability across the news industry – like News Sustainability Project – and efforts to elevate the ecosystem’s understanding of and engagement with the next generation of news providers – like the Global News Gaps Project. At the Shorenstein Center, he plans to distill his work into a research paper and podcast series on the future of news.
Azza Cohen is a documentary filmmaker and former White House videographer for Vice President Kamala Harris, where she documented historic moments across 28 states and 11 countries. She has become a leading voice on visual sexism in media, pioneering the field and launching a national movement to confront bias in political coverage. At Shorenstein, she will further develop Split Screen: a multi-pronged initiative including a book manuscript, visual case studies, real-time election analysis, and public education to transform how women leaders are represented in media.
Ben Reininga is Vice President of Audio and Video at Politico, leading teams in the U.S. and Europe to expand the organization’s journalism to new audiences. He previously served as a Nieman Berkman-Klein Fellow at Harvard, where he focused on the rise of creator-journalists on social platforms. At Shorenstein, he will continue this work by investigating the storytelling modes and production aesthetics that build trust and engagement for news in the creator economy, and how legacy organizations can adapt responsibly.
Erin Zimmer Strenio, Executive Director of Conversationalist.org, has dedicated her career to civic tech and journalism rooted in empathy. As director of Vote.gov, she led the federal voter information site to a Service to the Citizen Award for accessibility and equity in voter registration. She previously served at 18F, improving delivery of SNAP, CHIP, and other public programs, and earlier worked as managing editor at the James Beard Award-winning site Serious Eats. At the Shorenstein Center she will focus on how solutions-oriented journalism can foster civic engagement and public trust, organizing workshops and collaborative events that reimagine media as a platform for agency, compassion, and collective action.
Julia Allison, cultural commentator, entrepreneur, and former journalist, has been recognized by The New York Times as having “pioneered internet fame” and by Rolling Stone as “inventing being an influencer.” She began her career as the youngest full-time legislative staffer in the 107th Congress, later writing for publications including the New York Times, Newsweek, Elle and a syndicated column for Tribune Media. She has appeared extensively on major broadcast networks from CNN to MTV, and was featured on the cover of WIRED as a prototype of new media. At Shorenstein, she will explore how social and legacy media intersect with technology and culture, building on her work with Reimagine Media and The Bohemian Embassy. She holds a BA in government from Georgetown and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Dr. Rakoen Maertens is a behavioral scientist from the University of Oxford, specializing in misinformation and counter-disinformation strategies. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge and has published in Nature Communications and other leading journals. His applied work includes collaborations with Google, Meta, the UN, the European Commission, and the UK Cabinet Office. At Shorenstein, he will translate his research into policy insights for journalists and decision-makers, sharing best practices for countering misinformation with Harvard students, faculty, and media practitioners.
Rebecca Piazza, Executive Director of Safety Net Strategy at Code for America, brings over 25 years of leadership in government and civic technology. She served in the Biden-Harris Administration as Chief of Staff at the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, modernizing delivery of SNAP, WIC, and other nutrition programs. At Shorenstein, she will focus on helping journalists and civil society organizations better understand changes in safety net programs and government technology, providing technical and policy expertise to support reporting and public-facing projects that make complex systems more accessible.
Steve Johnson, an early internet pioneer, founded Johnson-Grace to build the image compression algorithm that powered AOL’s first online pictures in 1993. He later served as AOL’s head of R&D before turning to philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and advocacy on education, climate, the arts, and LGBTIQ rights. A longtime senior fellow at HKS, he is co-founder and CEO of AI company Notable Systems and author of A Thousand Miles From Care (Harper Collins), a book on his decades-long pursuit of justice for his brother, which uncovered systemic failings in Australia’s handling of anti-gay violence. At Shorenstein, he will work on his forthcoming book The Freedom Algorithm, engaging the Harvard community in debate over internet governance and digital safety.
This distinguished group joins our existing cohort of Shorenstein Center Fellows.
Please reach out to Emily Roseman if you’d like to get connected with any fellows or learn more about their work.
