Sarah Ryley

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT SARAH RYLEY

Sarah L. Ryley is an investigative and data journalist for The Boston Globe and an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s M.S. in Data Journalism program. Previously, she has reported on the U.S. response to COVID-19 for the New York Times Opinion video team, the pandemic\'s disproportionate economic impact on women for The Fuller Project, law enforcement\'s failure to solve shootings for The Trace and BuzzFeed News, and from 2012 through 2017, she was the data projects editor at the New York Daily News, where she reported extensively on the NYPD’s abuse of the “broken windows” policing strategy to target people of color. Her work has consistently had direct impact — including increased oversight of gun dealers in Massachusetts and 19 laws and other reforms to policing in New York City — and helped free a man from prison, jumpstart the construction timetable of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and save an Underground Railroad home from eminent domain. She has been recognized with 31 awards and honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2017 for a solo-bylined series she reported for the Daily News and ProPublica. She\'s also passionate about sharing what she\'s learned with others — particularly the many ways journalists of all skill levels can infuse accountability and data reporting into their everyday work — and has spoken at dozens of conferences, workshops, and classrooms around the country. She studied journalism at Wayne State University in Detroit and was named a distinguished alumna in 2018. Before discovering her love of reporting, she was a painter, community organizer, and waitress.