Aidan Thomas Hughes

Investigative data journalist whose work has appeared in Politico, The Baltimore Sun, Capital News Service and more. Passionate about shedding light on issues that would otherwise go uncovered without innovative data tools and creative storytelling.

Investigative Reporter and Data Fellow - Howard Center for Investigative Journalism

• Led a reporting team investigating the tactics used by a powerful lobbying group to dominate debate on a policy issue in Congress, which was published in partnership with Politico
• Cultivated sources including members of Congress, underrepresented voices, municipal leaders and nationally recognized policy experts to build upon stories originally identified through data analysis
• Helped lead a team of data journalists to build, clean and analyze a database of public records for an investigative series on privately funded trips for members of congress
• Currently developing a Python-based data pipeline that uses a large language model (LLM) to accurately extract information from tens of thousands of foreign agent registration documents'

• Assisted the Privacy Risk Review team in analyzing proposals for analytics, machine learning projects, and workflows to ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations for de­-identification

Master of Journalism - University of Maryland (expected May 2025)

• Published in-depth pieces on Maryland state policies and congressional elections
• Completed coursework in public affairs reporting, data journalism, open source intelligence data and investigative reporting with AI
• Worked as a teaching assistant for the Dow Jones News Fund’s data internship program

• Used open source information from video sharing platforms, internet forums and news reports to analyze the political behaviors and strategies of extremist groups

• Dept. of Political Science Teaching Assistant and VT Writing Center Coach
• Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets