Trevor Davis

Data Editor and Research Scientist
Brooklyn, New York
linkedin.com/in/trevordavis23
htttps://trevorhughdavis.com
tdavis28@nd.edu
+1 212 300 5924
Experienced investigative journalist and data-driven analyst with a proven track record of using data analysis, statistical methodologies, and R/Python to uncover systemic issues, from disinformation campaigns to financial misconduct.

Career Highlights

Data-Driven Investigations
* Led a six-month probe into Liftable, arguably the largest source of domestic misinformation leading to demonetization by major platforms. * Exposed mass filings of abusive lawsuits over small debts by mills. * Uncovered a global affiliate marketing network exploiting COVID-19 fears. * Documented and attributed massive online fraud by a far right European political party.
Data & Statistical Analysis
* Built a machine-learning model analyzing over a billion comments identifying direct threats against elected officials. * Data methodologies: Standardized CIB techniques for large datasets leading to dozens of stories in major news outlets, including ProPublica. * Created 90 petabyte datastore integrating over 200 different data sources with provenance. * Open-sourced image analysis technology for mass perceptual image hash comparison.
Technical Skills & Tools
* R or Python: Scraped campaign finance data, revealing 20K+ unreported donations. * Deep familiarity with PostGresQL, MySQL, BigQuery, Cypher, TransactSQL. * Data visualization: Created a realtime search of memes with signals of foreign control. * Data workflows: Streamlined team investigation processes, cutting project turnaround by 40%. * Deep experience with Google Colab, Jupyter notebooks and common data libraries. (eg. Pandas) as well as bleeding edge graph analysis tooling such as CUDA.
Editorial & Management
* Expert witness in largest civil case in Delaware history. * Mentored an international team of investigators covering the entire European Union. * Defined data strategy, increasing high-impact reporting. * Created data ethics policy that was adopted by multiple organizations and universities.

Work Experience

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Notre Dame College

Jan 2024 - Current

Research Scientist, CS. Application of LLMs to generate and analyze billion node and edge graphs from unstructured data. My research has been applied to subjects as diverse as religious life in the United States to identifying and attributing disinformation.

Founder

Apr 2014 - Current

Built a company from concept to $3M in annual revenue. Secured multi-year contracts with Fortune 100 firms, advising on industry challenges. Led sales to governments, nonprofits, and private sector clients to combat disinformation. Advised international bodies on regulation and industry self-governance.

As a technical founder, developed software supporting information security in 25+ countries across multiple languages. Led engineering teams to scale products. Researched ad tech abuse. Managed board, investors, and media relations. Drove over a dozen front-page stories in major newspapers. Provided expert analysis on disinformation on U.S. and European TV and radio.

Research Fellowship

Research interests include the intersection between electoral interference and market manipulation. Assessing platform integrity as a strategic vulnerability to democratic institutions and governance.

Research Professor

Jan 2019 - Sep 2021

Founding member and grant writer at the Institute for Data Democracy and Politics. Led initiatives to combat disinformation and analyze digital media’s impact. Worked with investigative teams on reports and scholarly research. Briefed Congressional staff and advised on policy. Spoke at global conferences on digital disinformation. Used advanced technologies, including GPU-accelerated graph analysis, to co-author peer-reviewed studies.

Chief Technology Officer

  • Grew the email list by over 700K in the first year. Increased online revenue in all areas. Built and deployed several websites. Generated revenue from our content. Built our audience with free, in-kind and paid media.

  • Developed the best click to call application in the field influence Congress and move CAF/IAF's agenda.

  • List growth topped 1.4 million by Q1 2016 with broad recognition among peers.

  • Developed real time internal reporting application using FireBase, drawing on an integrated information ecosystem of web services and local tracking.

  • Acted as ghost writer for co-directors, producing press releases, reports and fundraisers.

Director

Sep 2004 - Sep 2008

Crisis Pictures began as the photo blog, "Iraq in Pictures" in late 2004. By 2005, traffic exceeded a million unique visitors per day. According to a front page article in Washington Post, "[Crisis Pictures] shows, among other things, how the might of the U.S. military can be matched by a single blogger working part time."

Analyst

Jan 2001 - Nov 2003

Our team measured reach, receptivity, resonance and response to broadcast spots every night. My role was to create polls at seven, nine and eleven PM. It was a high-pressure workplace with strict deadlines and a rigid editorial style.

Education

Fellow

Harvard University

2016 - 2017

Master of Fine Arts

The New School

Incomplete

2001 - 2003

Bachelors Anthropology

1998 - 2001

Bachelors International Development

McGill University

Head of debate society.

GPA in top 5% of University

1997 - 1998

Engineering Abilities

  • Account Management
  • Advertising
  • Angularjs
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data
  • Big Data Analytics
  • Computer Science
  • Consulting
  • Contract Negotiation
  • Corporate Communications