Matt Sedensky, an award-winning correspondent for the Associated Press whose national beat included issues of aging, was named the first recipient of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Fellowship on the Economics of Aging and Work. Matt was selected through a national competition open to mid-career journalists who were employed by the Associated Press or by any of the APME association news organizations. Since joining the AP in 2002, Matt has covered a wide range of issues including Hurricane Katrina, the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, and the capture of the BTK serial killer. He has won numerous awards for his coverage of religion, including a series on the rise of the extremist minister Fred Phelps and an investigation into Pope Benedict XVI’s links to clergy abuse cases. Since 2008, he has led AP’s coverage of older Americans, winning the Florida Society of News Editors’ top award for beat reporting for his reports on seniors.
Emily Dooley, an award-winning environmental reporter for Newsday on Long Island, New York, was named the recipient of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Journalism Fellowship on Community Resilience. Emily was awarded the Fellowship after a national competition open to mid-career journalists with a track record of reporting on issues of resilience, many of whom wrote extensively about Superstorm Sandy. Emily worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 2008 to 2010 where she covered the economy, technology, legal industry and telecomm. She worked at Newsday.com from 2006 -2008 managing online news coverage for the web site. From 2000 to 2006 she worked at the Cape Cod Times in Massachusetts, covering whale rescue, environmental issues, politics, education, cops and enterprise stories before helping start the multimedia team there. She has won awards from The Newswomen’s Club of New York, Inland Press Association, American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, Press Club of Long Island, New England Newspaper Association, New England Press Association and Colorado Press Association.
Alejandra Cancino was named the first recipient of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Fellowship on Long-Term Care in America. She was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune from 2009 to 2015, and a multimedia reporter and web producer for La Palma, a Spanish-language weekly from 2007 to 2009. While working at La Palma, Alejandra also worked weekends for the Palm Beach Post. She has covered a wide range of issues including labor, manufacturing and commercial real estate. Her investigative work on a state tax credit program led to an increase in its transparency. Alejandra’s years of reporting have included countless interviews with workers, piquing her interest in the health care system, particularly as these workers age.
Adam Allington was named the second recipient of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Fellowship on the Economics of Aging and Work. Before coming to NORC, Adam worked for the public radio program, Marketplace, where he was a Michigan-based reporter for the Marketplace Sustainability Desk. Prior to Marketplace, Adam worked as a reporter for St. Louis Public Radio for six years, as well as a stint as economic media specialist with the Federal Reserve. In 2011 he was chosen for the prestigious Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship at the University of Michigan. Adam’s work has won numerous awards, including the Michigan and Missouri Association of Broadcasters, as well as a National Edward R. Murrow award for series reporting.
Maria Ines Zamudio is the third recipient of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Fellowship on the Economics of Aging and Work. She is an award-winning investigative reporter for the Commercial Appeal Newspaper. In 2015, Zamudio and a team of reporters from NPR’s Latino USA received a Peabody National Award for their coverage of Central American migrants. Prior to joining the Appeal, she worked for the Chicago Reporter Magazine covering immigration and labor. Zamudio also spent three years in California working for daily newspapers. Zamudio is a bilingual reporter and blogger with experience producing audio and visual radio stories. She was awarded the Social Justice Reporting Fellowship by the International Center for Journalists in 2014. She has participated in the 2013 NY Times fellowship, 2012 Justice in Journalism fellowship, Knight Digital Media Foundation’s 2011 Independent Journalist Fellowship and the 2010 Education Writers Association’s Research and Statistics Fellowship. Zamudio graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007. Her work has appeared in National Public Radio, NBC 5 Chicago, Telemundo, Univision among others.