Brooklyn Draisey
Brooklyn Draisey covers higher education in Iowa, showing how decisions and research inside colleges and universities shape students, institutions and public policy. She is a Report for America corps member covering higher education for Iowa Capital Dispatch. Her reporting stays close to campus sources and institutional records, using clear explanations and concise detail to connect university developments to their impact on people and public systems. She brings experience on business, lifestyle and culture beats to her current work, which keeps her higher education coverage grounded in everyday consequences for those who live and work around Iowa’s campuses.
Higher education funding and philanthropy
Draisey regularly reports on major gifts and fundraising campaigns that shape the financial landscape of Iowa’s colleges and universities. She has covered large philanthropic donations to private institutions, explaining who is giving, how the money will be used and what long-term projects the gifts enable, such as new facilities or expanded programs. Her work on public university fundraising campaigns tracks progress against ambitious goals, documents how funds are allocated and notes the timing and strategy behind hitting those targets ahead of schedule. Across these stories she pays attention to the relationship between donors, institutional leadership and governing boards, treating funding decisions as central to the future of higher education rather than as isolated announcements.
Campus initiatives and academic programs
Beyond big-ticket funding, Draisey spends time on the smaller-scale initiatives that change what and how students study.
She has reported on grants used to create or test new curricula, such as funding for “decision science” programs that aim to reshape how students learn to make choices in complex environments. Her coverage of visiting faculty and notable instructors returning to teach at Iowa colleges shows how individual teachers can become part of a school’s identity and recruiting story, linking personal careers to institutional priorities. These pieces focus on what the initiative means for students and faculty day to day, describing how programs are built, who participates and how colleges hope these efforts will position them in a competitive higher education market.
Statewide higher education debates and governance
Draisey’s work also follows the broader conversation about the future of higher education in the state. She has reported on Iowans weighing in on the direction of the system, including public feedback on how colleges should evolve, consolidate or expand to meet changing demographic and economic pressures. In these stories she brings together voices from campus communities, state officials and residents, using their perspectives to show how policy decisions resonate beyond administrative offices.
Her governance coverage draws clear lines between board-level or legislative choices and the lived experience of students and staff, reinforcing higher education as a public concern rather than a niche institutional issue.
University research and environmental impact
When university research intersects with the environment, Draisey treats those projects as part of higher education’s public mission. She has reported on University of Iowa researchers tracking worsening surface ozone pollution driven by wildfires, laying out how academic findings on air quality connect to health risks and regulatory debates. In this kind of coverage she uses the same straightforward style she brings to funding and governance stories, summarising complex scientific work in clear language and keeping the focus on tangible outcomes for communities.
The environment appears in her reporting as one of several domains where university expertise affects life beyond campus, reinforcing a consistent theme: higher education as a key driver of statewide change.
Reporting background across beats
Before joining Iowa Capital Dispatch, Draisey reported for regional outlets on topics ranging from business to culture, and has experience as a lifestyles and projects reporter. That background shows up in her current work through an emphasis on people-driven narratives, even when the subject is a fundraising campaign or curriculum grant. She tends to frame institutional stories through the experiences of students, faculty, donors and community members, using their voices and decisions to illustrate broader trends in higher education.
This mix of beat discipline and human-focused reporting distinguishes her coverage from more transactional higher education reporting that only records board decisions or press releases.
4 more environment journalists.
Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who treats the Colorado River as a working system, not a backdrop, making its governance, infrastructure and risks central to his beat. He covers how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future, linking high-level choices on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers to everyday consequences under mounting heat and growth pressures. He reports deeply on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, focusing on on-the-ground impacts. His coverage spans Colorado River cuts, Hoover Dam operations, extreme weather, heat and parks, septic system rules, workplace and public health risks, lithium and gold mines, protected landscapes, data centers, AI infrastructure and public funding. Previously he reported for metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media, including the Miami Herald, WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, with work recognized by Hearst, ONA and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Alejandra Borunda
Alejandra Borunda reports on how climate change affects human health for NPR. Her work treats global warming as a direct cause of physical and mental health risks. She covers extreme heat, including undercounted deaths, lost sleep and local efforts to track heat-related fatalities. She also reports on wildfire smoke, hurricanes, disease spread such as dengue fever, trauma, stress and unequal health impacts. Her stories examine how communities protect themselves and recover, as well as practical solutions involving climate-resilient crops, agriculture and diet. Before NPR, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, including glacier retreat, shade and heat inequity, and shrinking ice-fishing seasons. A former climate scientist, she combines field reporting with scientific data to connect atmospheric research to everyday risks, choices and people’s lived experiences.
Alex Lubben
Alex Lubben is an environment reporter at The Times-Picayune/The Advocate who connects climate risk to policy, industry and community change. He covers Gulf warming, flood protection, coastal restoration, wetlands litigation, industrial projects such as SpaceX’s possible expansion, invasive species and local ecosystems. His reporting tracks how law, politics and corporate decisions shape levees, drainage, marshes and long-term resilience. He also examines climate relocation, housing and labor, showing how hurricanes, floods and wildfires displace vulnerable communities and expose gaps in government systems. He works on a small environment team and brings an investigative background to document work, data analysis, legal and policy research, and field reporting. His work has appeared in VICE News, The Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, Jewish Currents and NBC News.
Alex Wigglesworth
Alex Wigglesworth reports on how climate, land use and public policy shape California communities. She covers the Inland Empire and Mojave Desert for the Los Angeles Times and is part of its environment team. Her beat includes wildfires, megadrought, extreme weather, desert development, conservation, wildlife, industrial hazards, aging infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. She has covered Western Joshua trees, desert tortoises, beaver-led restoration, toxic lead pipes, air-quality concerns after industrial fires and the effects of nuclear war on food systems. Earlier, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. She combines breaking news with detailed reporting grounded in scientific studies, modeling and expert interviews. Her work connects fires, drought and other hazards to climate change, while examining how agencies, companies and land-use decisions affect people and ecosystems.