staff

Marisa Palmer is a Master’s Candidate in the Department of Criminology. She comes to the program from a decade-long career as an award-winning video journalist with a focus on criminal justice and policing. Marisa is a listener at heart. She’s captivated by experiences, stories, and projects that evoke empathy for people often misunderstood. She was most recently a producer for Vice News’ domestic documentary unit, where she explored stories about race, politics, and environmental injustice. Prior to Vice News, Marisa was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where she studied the effects of police training programs in the U.S. and began developing a database that ranked training programs by quality, efficacy, and accessibility. Before Harvard, Marisa was a Senior Video Producer for Business Insider’s News and Documentary team where she helped launch Facebook’s first digital daily news program. Marisa won a Telly award for her reporting on Baltimore’s police training programs, an NABJ Salute to Excellence award for a report on the making of Juneteenth into a federal holiday, and two Emmys for assisted reporting. Before arriving at Business Insider, Palmer worked for CBS News. She was formerly a board member for the New York Association of Black Journalists, an Emma Bowen Fellow, and a Hearst Producing Fellow. She is an alumnus of Syracuse University and holds a dual Bachelor’s degree from S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.