Hi! I’m Dan.

I’m a journalism and storytelling innovator, educator, and constant early adopter. I’ve spent 30+ years at the intersection of media and emerging technology, from digital publishing at The Washington Post and The Denver Post to pioneering immersive VR journalism and, now, exploring what AI means for the people who work in or teach journalism or media.

Along the way I’ve led award-winning projects, including “Harvest of Change,” one of the first major VR journalism pieces in the country, and “Visualizing 81,” which used immersive techniques to tell the past, present and future of Syracuse’s 15th Ward. In all of that, I have helped train countless journalists, students and media organizations how to tell stories in new ways using tools that didn’t exist a few years earlier.

I hold an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate, co-authored a Routledge textbook on emerging media platforms, serve on the Peabody Awards Interactive Board, and am a Co-PI on an NSF grant bringing immersive storytelling to refugee and immigrant youth. I am a proud Latino (Puerto Rican) and have served as co-chair for AI and Emerging Tech for the annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference for three years running.

I have held the Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair in Journalism Innovation at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications for 15 years, where I have taught courses in AI for media professionals, Emerging Media Platforms, VR storytelling and data journalism.

I’m also a graduate student in applied data science with an expected graduation date of spring 2028. You’re never too old to learn!