Meet the Cronkite Borderlands team

Abigail Beck is an award-winning print and audio journalist born and raised in Arizona. Her work has been featured and republished in outlets all across the state, including NPR stations and newspaper front pages. Beck has worked for The Arizona Republic, Courier Newsroom, News21 and Cronkite News. She was also a managing editor at The State Press from May 2024 to May 2025.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-g-beck
Portfolio: https://authory.com/AbigailBeck

“My favorite thing about my trip to Tokyo was experiencing Japanese culture outside of the city. I loved going into the suburbs, where I could witness the day-to-day lives of the country’s residents.”

Ian Brown is a master’s student pursuing a degree in investigative journalism at ASU. Brown is an Army veteran and has undergraduate degrees in political science and Spanish. Brown plans to graduate in fall 2026.

E-mail: [email protected]

“The most rewarding part of the field work experience was the need to adapt to reporting in a foreign country. I valued the opportunity to pursue a story covering international politics.”

Reuben J. Brown is a multimedia journalist from Brighton, U.K. He works as a writer, photographer and editor on stories about very big systems, the people shaping them, and the people they shape. 

Website: https://reubenjbrown.com/
Linkedin: /in/reuben-j-brown/
Instagram: @reubenj.brown

“Global energy markets shape people’s lives in enormous ways. While they’re complex and highly technical systems, they’re also shaped by culture, memory and history. Without reporting in Tokyo, Fukushima and Shimizu for this story, I would not have come to understand the motivations of Japan’s energy policy to nearly the same degree.”

Gaige Davila writes about borders, coastlines and the people in them. He has reported for the Texas Observer, Deceleration, NPR, The Guardian, Mother Jones and more since 2019. He is the David McHam Fellow for the Texas Observer, is the author of Deceleration’s Coastlines/Faultlines newsletter and is writing a book with Texas Tech University Press about the Laguna Madre area of South Texas, his home region. 

Website: www.gaigedavilaphoto.com

“Japan is as far away from where I’m from as I’ve ever been. Could’ve fooled me: I felt at home there, thanks to some of the people I met. And since home is people, my hope is that this reporting I did will make people in Japan see their homes where I’m from, too.”

Pippa Fung is a junior studying journalism at ASU, with minors in political science and German. She has also written for Boomtown Los Alamos, The State Press and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Pippa enjoys reporting on immigration and health care, and would like to pursue investigative journalism in the future.

Instagram: @philippafung
LinkedIn: @Philippa Fung

“This trip was very eye-opening for me, and taught me a lot about reporting overseas and in the field. I enjoyed getting to meet so many people in Japan and am really grateful for the opportunity to share their stories.”

Grant Johnson is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in investigative journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His work focuses on investigative reporting and cross-platform storytelling that highlights underreported communities and engages Gen Z audiences. He holds a bachelor’s degree in television production from Ithaca College. He has worked with FOX, NBCUniversal, TEGNA and Gray Television, and is the creator of “News Disrupted,” a digital series exploring the future of journalism.

Website: https://www.grantjohnsontv.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grantjohnsontv/ 
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantjohnsontv 

“Covering a sensitive topic in a country where I didn’t speak the language forced me to be a more careful and deliberate reporter. I took home a stronger sense of how to cover communities that are not my own with the sensitivity they deserve.”

Aoife Kane is from Kildare, Ireland. She is a graduate student and Howard Center for Investigative Journalism fellow at ASU. Kane is most interested in exploring the intersection between policy and people. She thinks that being a journalist is the best job in the world because it gives her the freedom and license to talk to people and be endlessly curious about how the world works. Kane is most passionate about producing video journalism and hopes to reach younger audiences through vertical videos on social media. 

Instagram: @aoifekanee
LinkedIn: @Aoife Kane
X: @Aoifekane32 

“In Tokyo, I learned how to conduct interviews through translators, set up interviews with sources on the other side of the world and pivot in real time as my story developed.”

Katrina Michalak is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication. She previously interned with The Arizona Republic and Totally Dublin Magazine. She currently serves as executive editor for The State Press and is a reporter at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. Michalak aims to continue reporting, specifically national issues and foreign correspondence. She is from Boston. 

LinkedIn: @ Katrina Michalak
X: @katrinamichalak 

“The Borderlands trip sharpened my reporting instincts and reminded me to not be afraid of pivoting to another story angle. The sources I developed all had impactful anecdotes to share and motivated me to deliver a compelling story.”

Emily Mosier is pursuing a master’s degree in investigative journalism at ASU as a Howard Center Fellow. She grew up in Alabama and the Florida panhandle. In 2025, she graduated from Troy University with degrees in English and multimedia journalism. She is especially passionate about accountability reporting and public service, and she has freelanced for multiple news organizations, including NPR. 

Instagram and X: @EmilyMosierNews
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-mosier 

“Covering reproductive inequality and LGBTQ+ oppression in Japan allowed me to learn in-depth reporting at an international level. As journalists, it is important to understand the weight of each story and handle the words of others with care – and this trip reaffirmed my goal of being a reporter who amplifies the voices of others.”

Natalia Rodriguez is a junior studying journalism and mass communication from Nogales, Arizona. She has written and edited dozens of articles for The State Press. She has also worked for LOOKOUT, a nonprofit news outlet dedicated to serving the LGBTQ+ community in Arizona. Rodriguez plans to pursue a career as a bilingual investigative journalist.  

LinkedIn: @Natalia Rodriguez

“The key lesson I took away from this experience was: that no matter how different a country is to your own, you can still experience similar issues presented in a different way. This trip truly made me mature and realize how capable I am, beyond just journalism.”

Kyle Sekenski is pursuing a master’s degree in mass communication, and is a native of Mesa. He holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from ASU. Kyle expects to graduate in summer 2026 after completing a capstone program at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C., Bureau, for which he is a Thomson Reuters Truth in Reporting scholar. He intends to pursue a career in investigative journalism and photojournalism, with an eye on foreign correspondence work.

Website: https://ksekensk16bb.myportfolio.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kylesekenski

“Reporting on this story helped me to think a lot more about the complexity of identity. Are we more a product of where we were born, where we grew up, or where our families came from? Exploring these questions while meeting people who make a difference in the lives of their local communities was a brilliant first taste of international reporting work.”

Abigail Wilt is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying journalism and mass communication with a minor in English literature. She was previously a fellow for the Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellowship and worked as a health disparities reporter for Cronkite News. She currently serves as a managing editor for State Press Magazine and is an editorial intern for PHOENIX Magazine. 

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @abigail.wilt
X: @AbigailMWilt.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-wilt-9881a017b/

“I was nervous to report an in-depth story in a country where I didn’t know the language, but as I reported from Tokyo, I was able to develop reporting skills that translated into a well-reported story that will stand out in my portfolio.”

Rodrigo Cervantes is an award-winning journalist, media manager, strategist and educator with over two decades of international experience. He has worked and contributed for several media outlets, including NPR, Reforma (Mexico), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Los Angeles Times. Cervantes has been an active member for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and leads the Cronkite-Howard G. Buffett Foundation Borderlands Project. 

E-mail: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rodrigo-cervantes/
X: @rodcervantes

Andrés Cediel is an Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker, and educator. His work for PBS has focused on the abuse of immigrants at work and in detention, human rights, and climate change. Cediel is currently the Buffett Foundation Visiting Professor of Visual Journalism working with News 21 and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Borderlands Project.

E-mail: [email protected]
Instagram:@andresacediel

Regina Revazova is a journalist, audio expert and educator whose career spans international reporting, public radio and podcast entrepreneurship. She is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Professor of Practice at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School, where she leads the Southwest Health Reporting Initiative.

E-mail: [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/regina-revazova/