

YDN Data Desk
The Data Desk is a new initiative to bring data-driven journalism to the News. Now in its second year, our team of data reporters use open datasets to investigate current campus issues, work with beat reporters to craft a compelling story, and produce interactive data visualizations to create immersive experiences for readers.
We're recruiting people who are passionate about using data to uncover meaningful stories at Yale and in New Haven, and then tell those stories to a broad audience. Sound like you? Whether you have a statistics, computer science, or humanities background, get in touch→. We'd love to work with you.
Below, you'll find some of the projects we've worked on, what tools we use, and information on members of our team.
Past projects and stories
Note that the bylines below include both data reporters and beat reporters.
- DataHaven survey reveals racial disparities in COVID-19 experience by Philip Mousavizadeh, with data visualizations by Darwin Do
- First years believe Yale can handle COVID-19, according to survey by John Besche and Ashley Qin
- Survey shows first years support social movements by Valerie Pavilonis and Zully Arias
- Yale Daily News COVID-19 Dashboard by Daniel Kim and Omar Chishti
- Summer 2020: Coronavirus upended student plans, tightened wallets by Matt Kristoffersen, with data analysis and visualizations by YDN Data Desk
- Fall 2020: More than half of Yalies consider time off if classes go online by Matt Kristoffersen, with data analysis and visualizations by YDN Data Desk
- Yale class of 2020: By the numbers by Daniel Kim and Ashley Qin
- A shifting demographic for storied Yale crew: International athletes elevate the Elis by Ashley Qin, William McCormack, and Drew Beckmen
- Yale's Most Popular Courses by Maggie Nolan and Daniel Zhao
- Analysis: New Haven sees drop in crime by John Besche, Maggie Nolan, and Daniel Zhao
Tools we use
And, if you join us, we can teach you these tools!
- Either
R
orPython
for data analysis (but you don't have to have experience!) - Tableau or Flourish Studio for interactive data visualizations
- Some
D3.js
for more complex visualizations - A private GitHub repo to centralize our code
Meet our team

Maggie Nolan '21
Co-founder & co-editor
Statistics & Data Science and Economics

Daniel Zhao '21+0.5?
Co-founder & co-editor
Statistics & Data Science and Global Affairs

Ashley Qin '22
Demographic data team
Biomedical Engineering

Omar Chishti '22
Dining team
Biomedical Engineering

Yuan Wong '22
Dining team
Statistics & Data Science

Darwin Do '23+0.5
Courses team
Computer Science

Daniel Kim '22
Demographic data team
Statistics & Data Science

Zully Arias '23
Dining team
Statistics & Data Science
Isha Dalal '21
Professors team
Thomas Woodside '23
Professors team
Michael Chau '21
Courses team
Nathan Kim '22
Courses team
Emma Levin '22
Demographic data team
Isabel Corpus '21
Demographic data team
Jess Pevner '21
Demographic data team