Niraj Warikoo is the religion writer for the Detroit Free Press. He graduated from Columbia University in New York City with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a masters degree in journalism. In 2005, he was one of ten journalists selected nationally to be a fellow at the University of Southern California, where he studied national security and civil liberties in the post 9-11 era. Warikoo has been an invited speaker at conferences and universities across the country, and on TV shows such as MSNBC’s Hardball Show with Chris Matthews and C-SPAN. In previous years, he has written often about workplace safety issues, including investigative reports that exposed corporate negligence in the deaths of six workers at the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Warikoo also has examined the environmental destruction of Michigan’s wetlands in a special report based on new data he obtained. In 2006, he traveled to Lebanon to write stories for the Detroit Free Press on the aftermath of the war between Hizballah and Israel. Warikoo has also written often about Michigan’s immigrant communities, including the region’s Arab and Muslim population — the highest concentration in the U.S. Outside of work, Warikoo enjoys listening to music; he played the piano and trumpet for 10 years.
