Mariana Santos, Fusion’s interactive and animation director, has been named the new Knight Innovator in Residence at Florida International University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

As an ICFJ Knight Fellow in 2013, Santos founded Chicas Poderosas (Powerful Women), a digital training program and networking opportunity to expose female journalists in Latin America to digital innovation.

Following the ICFJ fellowship, she also won a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, where she continued her work to promote women leaders in the field of media technology. In her new position at FIU, Santos said she will bring in a multidisciplinary approach to the way journalism is taught, incorporating arts, designs and technology. “I feel super pumped and excited to start,” Santos told The Wire, FIU’s online publication.

Santos, who previously worked as part of The Guardian’s interactive team in London, has extensive experience as an animator, designer and visual storyteller. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communication design and industrial design from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon. Later, she earned a master’s degree in digital media at the educational company Hyper Island in Stockholm.

Main image courtesy of Chicas Poderosas’s Facebook page.