Chi Vo

I combine reporting, data analysis, and design to create interactive graphics and scrollytelling experiences.

Currently at Columbia Journalism School, Columbia University
Data & Code: Python, R, Clustering, NLP, Web Scraping, Flask, OCR, Geospatial Analysis
Web & Viz: D3.js, React, Tailwind, Leaflet.js, HTML/CSS/JS, Scrollytelling, Interactive Mapping
Design & UX: Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, XD), Figma, Infographics, Design Systems, Wireframing, Visual Storytelling
DATA JOURNALISM
Racial Equity in Lending Was a Promise

Racial Equity in Lending Was a Promise

A data-driven investigation into how U.S. banks' 2020 racial-equity pledges quietly receded, combining 15M HMDA records, annual reports, and policy shifts to reveal persistent mortgage approval gaps. Duration: Three months
Regression • Data Cleaning • R • Python • Policy Analysis • Illustrator • Writing • Scrollytelling

The Bank That Robbed Itself

The Bank That Robbed Itself

Visual timeline and diagrams breaking down Vietnam's largest bank fraud. Investigated how $44B vanished through fake loans and shell firms. Duration: Two weeks
Storytelling • Illustration • Financial Analysis • Research • Editorial Design

NYC Mayoral Election Map

How Every Block Voted in the N.Y.C. Mayoral Primary

Interactive precinct-level map showing certified first-round results of the Democratic primary's ranked-choice vote, with detailed breakdowns by neighborhood and candidate performance. Duration: Two weeks
Interactive Mapping • Election Data • D3.js • Geospatial Analysis • Data Visualization • Mobile friendly

Brewed, Branded, and Beige

Brewed, Branded, and Beige

Mapped the aesthetics and urban logic of 5,000+ cafés across 90 cities using AI vision, geospatial joins, and regression. Duration: Three weeks
Scraping • OCR • AI Captioning • Regression • Mapping • Design

Mercury's Literary Legacy

Mercury's Literary Legacy

Explored cultural bias in planetary naming. Scraped crater names, traced gender/ethnicity, and visualized global artistic legacy in space. Duration: One week
Scraping • Data Cleaning • Google Sheets • Illustrator • Writing

Street view

Uptown's Dangerous Intersections: Can Technology Curtail Collisions?

Mapped 4,500+ collisions across Upper Manhattan using NYC Open Data and interviewed AI researchers on tech-led traffic safety. Duration: Two weeks
Investigative Reporting • Open Data • Geospatial Analysis • Interviewing • Urban Infrastructure

map of USA

The Hidden Shift in Black Home Loans

Even as banks made racial equity pledges after George Floyd's murder, our analysis of 15 million mortgage applications shows that political shifts, anti-DEI laws, and the rollback of legal tools like disparate impact threaten to quietly entrench racial disparities in home lending. On going project
Regression • Data Cleaning • R • Python • Interview • Illustrator • Writing

sentiment analysis of companion app

Loneliness and Liability: The Risks of Emotional Bonds with AI

Tested 5 AI companionship apps against suicide response standards; uncovered major safety failures and ethical blind spots. Duration: One month
Research • Rubric building • Testing Framework • Policy Reporting • Sentiment Analysis • Editorial Writing

NYC free wifi

Recipe for a good joke

Analyzed 2,000+ human and AI-generated captions using embeddings, clustering, and humor trait labeling to decode what makes jokes work. Duration: Ongoing
NLP • Clustering • Zero-shot Classification • Humor Theory • D3.js • Scrollytelling

DATA VISUALIZATION
Broken Promises of Peace

Broken Promises of Peace

Built a React timeline exploring 300+ conflicts to test whether peace treaties actually end war. Duration: Two weeks
Data Analysis • React • Tailwind • UCDP • Visual Design • Writing

NYC free wifi

Free WiFi in NYC search

Mapped 3,000+ public Wi-Fi hotspots across NYC using cleaned open data and interactive search powered by Leaflet.js. Duration: One week
Data Cleaning • Leaflet.js • JavaScript • HTML/CSS • Front-End Mapping • Open Data

NYC Community Boards Scraper

NYC Community Boards Scraper

Built a Flask app that scrapes, parses, and centralizes 200+ PDF minutes from NYC community boards to support local journalism. Duration: Ongoing
Web Scraping • PDF Parsing • Flask • pdfplumber • HTML/CSS • Civic Data • Automation

VISUAL DESIGN
Past life as a visual designer

Commercial Work and Personal Projects

From AI to policy to food, data visualization, UI, and editorial design.
Duration: Five years
Skills: Adobe Package (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects), Flourish, Adobe XD, Figma, Inkscape, Excel, and visual storytelling.

UX/UI
Inspire Design App

Inspire

Collaboration with Abbey Wang. 'Inspire' is a tablet app designed to bridge the gap between a user's goal of becoming a designer and their current skill level. Connect students to mentors, activities, and design disciplines. Adobe Creative Jam Top 10% projects 2020 (Worldwide) Duration: 2 days
UX/UI Design • Mobile App Design • Wireframing • Design Systems • User Research • Prototyping • Adobe XD
Role: Designer

Scottish Fiscal Commission Design System

Scottish Fiscal Commission Design System

Revamped website and launched comprehensive infographics summary design system for economic forecasts, fiscal overviews, and tax analysis. System still in use today across all publications and social media. Duration: October 2021 - June 2022
Web Accessibility • Design Systems • Infographics • Social Media Templates • Economic Data Visualization
Role: Designer
Shipped: May 2022