Matt Carroll

Matt Carroll

Research Scientist


MIT Media Lab

Boston, MA USA


This is a great time to take a risk. This is the time to move to another city, to do something exciting, to get together with a friend and start a company. Go start something new.

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Matt Carroll

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
When he was a kid, he loved reading the comics and sports sections of the newspapers, then he slowly worked his way back to the stories on the front page.
He started noticing that between different papers and different stories, there were elements that could make or break a piece; became fascinated with the craft of journalism.
When he was in middle school, he and his friends started a science fiction journal; then, when he was in high school, he took journalism classes.
He decided to briefly drop out of college to start his own newspaper; it ultimately failed, but he learned about every step in the process of founding and developing a paper.
Somewhere along the way, he realized that data could make a real difference within journalism; he started learning about coding to focus on the data.
Spent 26 years working at the Boston Globe as a journalist, specializing in database-related stories.
Even though he had a comfortable job, he saw the opening in the MIT Media Lab and realized it was a huge opportunity to influence journalism and give back in a new way.
When he made the transition to MIT, he was intimidated by the code-heavy environment; says he settled in by finding his confidence and asking the right questions.
Keep following my journey

Education

High School
Bachelor
Journalism
Northeastern University

Career

Research Scientist

I'm a research scientist working to educate journalists about data and technology and create new tools for newsrooms.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Journalism
Technology
Being Creative

Interviewed By

Code Trip

Code Trip

Increasing representation in the world of coding