Photo by Dani Fine
I'm a writer and foreign correspondent specializing in East Africa and Africa’s Great Lakes region.
My work, including longform articles, investigative features, travel dispatches, and profiles, has been published by National Geographic, The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Grist, Slate, The Boston Globe, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and many other outlets around the globe.
In more than a dozen years as a journalist, I've chronicled a fight to stop oil exploration in Africa's oldest national park; profiled Africa’s last absolute monarch; investigated a first-of-its kind project to generate power from gas trapped in a Rwandan lake; and explored the rise of the African megacity though an in-depth look at the past, present, and future of Dar es Salaam. Much of my work these days relates to one of two topics: climate change, the energy transition, and what it means for Africa; and the history, culture, and science of world-class distance running. I’m an annual contributor to Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35, which honors some of the world’s brightest young scientists and engineers. I also teach a course on global journalism at Tufts University and work as a writer, editor, and analyst for a variety of private and non-governmental clients.
I hold a B.A. from Tufts and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). I’m grateful for the support I’ve received from the Alicia Patterson Foundation, the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, and the former Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards, where I was a one-time winner and two-time finalist. After several years primarily in East Africa, I now split my time between the region and my hometown, Amherst, Massachusetts—with occasional stints elsewhere. Some favorite spots include Kashmir, Tokyo, the Namib Desert, and the hills outside Bologna, Italy.