Mohamed Salama
Hyattsville,MD
Summary
Award-winning Computational Journalist and Scholar. Applies deep expertise in NLP, Machine Learning, and Large Language Models to generate sophisticated, data-driven stories. Grounded by ten years of international reporting in the Middle East, including coverage of two Egyptian revolutions and sustained investigation into the ongoing conditions of journalists in Gaza.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
Teaching Assistant
Philip Merrill College of Journalism, UMD
College Park, Maryland
08.2022 - Current
- Contributed to developing and delivering four specialized modules:
- Storytelling with Coding: Taught Python programming for creating interactive visual journalism content.
- Urban Affairs Reporting: Guided students in applying data analysis methods to report on issues of wealth and poverty in Baltimore.
- Lynching and the Press: Facilitated computational textual analysis of historical archives to create data-driven narratives on racial violence.
- Media Literacy: Instructed students in critically evaluating contemporary news media, and content credibility.
Contributor
The Cairo Review, AUC
Cairo, Egypt
12.2023 - 09.2025
- Coordinated collaborative research with the American University in Cairo (AUC), executing a rapid-response project that delivered critical reporting on journalists in Gaza.
- Secured and analyzed primary data gathered through extensive interviewing (over 40) of local Palestinian journalists inside Gaza, following the events of October 7 to the present.
- Wrote two policy papers for the Cairo Review (AUC's official publishing arm), and two award-winning academic papers, achieving the project's first major award.
Freelance Journalist
Al-Monitor
Remote
10.2014 - 12.2019
- Reported on critical Egyptian domestic affairs, specializing in documenting post-revolution student detentions and the social status of minority groups, particularly the Nubians.
TV Producer
BBC Arabic
Cairo, Egypt
06.2012 - 09.2013
- Executed a year-long internship as a TV Producer at BBC Arabic In Cairo, managing all stages of short-form news production. This included conducting interviews, filming vox pops, and authoring scripts for broadcast segments.
Education
Ph.D. - Journalism
University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD05-2027
Graduate Studies - Journalism And Mass Communication
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY05-2022
Master of Arts - Journalism
The American University in Cairo (AUC)
Egypt05-2021
Bachelor of Arts - Journalism
Cairo University
Egypt05-2013
Skills
- Python
- Machine learning & NLP (NER, topic modeling, embeddings, LLMs)
- Data visualization (matplotlib, Plotly, Tableau, Datawrapper)
- Git/GitHub, Hugging Face, Colab, Kaggle
- Data-driven storytelling
- Writing & editing
- Fact-checking
Awards
- 2025, Third Place, AEJMC
- 2021, Fulbright Fellowship, IIE
- 2022, UMD PhD Fellowship
- 2025, UMD Do Good Fellow
- 2024, First Place, AEJMC
- 2020, MA Fellowship, AUC
- 2023, Merrill Fellowship, UMD
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Contributor
The Cairo Review, AUC
12.2023 - 09.2025
Teaching Assistant
Philip Merrill College of Journalism, UMD
08.2022 - Current
Freelance Journalist
Al-Monitor
10.2014 - 12.2019
TV Producer
BBC Arabic
06.2012 - 09.2013
Ph.D. - Journalism
University of Maryland, College Park
Graduate Studies - Journalism And Mass Communication
University of Kentucky
Master of Arts - Journalism
The American University in Cairo (AUC)
Bachelor of Arts - Journalism
Cairo University