Hi, I'm Ash Ngu.
I currently build data visualization tools at Netflix. Before that, I made data-driven stories and web apps for ProPublica and The New York Times.
Check out my selected work, photography and woodwork.
Selected Work
Tracking The Repatriation of Native American Remains Under NAGPRABuilt a web application showing which institutions still have ancestral remains. Used by 70+ newsrooms to further report on delayed repatriation.Pitch • Reporting • Design • Development • Data Collection • Data Analysis • Data Visualization • Writing
Nonprofit ExplorerBuilt key pages and a chart component for a nonprofit financial data tool widely used by journalists, donors, and researchers.Design • Development • Data Visualization
America’s Highest Earners And Their TaxesWorked closely with business reporters to turn raw tax data into a visual walkthrough explaining how the highest earning Americans are taxed.Design • Development • Data Visualization • Writing
Claim File HelperBuilt a tool that helps patients request information from their insurers to find out why their claim was denied.Design • Development • Writing • Art Direction
The Smoke Comes Every Year. Sugar Companies Say the Air Is Safe.Published an explainer visualizing the impact of cane sugar burns in Florida using data we collected using real-time air monitors.Design • Development • Data Collection • Data Analysis • Data Visualization • Writing
Chicken CheckerBuilt a grocery shopping tool that helps people see how often salmonella was found at their poultry processor.Design • Development • Data Visualization
States Are Reopening: See How Coronavirus Cases Rise or FallBuilt a dashboard visualizing states' COVID trajectories and whether states were meeting reopening guidelines.Design • Development • Data Visualization
Tracking Hospital Utilization in Illinois At The Start of The PandemicBuilt a hospital utilization tracker months before the Illinois Department of Public Health published their own.Design • Development • Data Visualization
How to Understand COVID-19 NumbersDesigned a quick series of cards to help readers develop COVID data literacy.Design • Data Visualization
Hawaii's Beaches Are DisappearingProduced a visual explainer of beach damage from seawalls in Hawaii using public records data.Design • Development • Data Visualization • Writing • Drone Videography
Opinion | To Help Prevent the Next Big Wildfire, Let the Forest BurnPitched and produced a timely visual op-ed using data to present the case for prescribed burns.Pitch • Reporting • Writing • Design • Data Visualization
Opinion | Why Can’t Rich People Save Winter?Used mapping and legislative data to show how politicians in ski states aren’t doing enough to stop climate change and save the snowpack.Reporting • Data Visualization
Opinion | We Should Worry About How China Uses Apps Like TikTokVisualized app data foreshadowing concerns over the increased popularity of TikTok in the Five Eyes countries.Design • Data Visualization
What It Takes to Get an Abortion in the Most Restrictive U.S. StateProduced a visual comparison of how to get an abortion in two states to highlight disparities in abortion access.Reporting • Design • Development
After the Las Vegas Shooting, the Nation Moved On. Many Survivors Did Not.Crunched Ticketmaster data to show the wide geographic spread of those affected by the shooting.Reporting • Writing • Interviewing • Data Visualization
Gender on This American LifeCollected a unique dataset and built an interactive explainer proving a gender disparity in air time on the acclaimed radio show.Pitch • Design • Development • Data Collection • Data Analysis • Data Visualization • Writing
Photography
San Francisco, California — Danny Pham shares an intimate moment at GAMeBoi SF.Part of a 2016 series called Coming Home, which highlighted queer Asian Americans and their concepts of home.
San Francisco, California — Roy Luo gets ready for a goth party with his sister and best friend.Part of the Coming Home series
Manhattan, New York — On the anniversary of 9/11, members of the FDNY Emerald Society played bagpipes outside of O'Hara's Pub.
Manhattan, New York — An officer's head is gripped by a fellow first responder on the anniversary of 9/11.
Fremont, California — Hsin Chuen-Lin demonstrates his throwing technique.
Oakland, California — Inger Brinck feeding their four-month old son. They are considering moving out of Oakland as housing costs increase.Part of the Coming Home series
Kyoto, Japan — A boy curls up underneath a slide to play his Nintendo DS.
Kyoto, Japan — The ball flies wide in a casual match.
Jericho, West Bank — Code for Palestine students play basketball after classes are done for the day.
Jericho, West Bank — Code for Palestine students take design thinking classes in addition to programming.
Chiba, Japan — Waiting for departure at Narita Airport.
Medan, Indonesia — Visiting a batik shop at a local market.
Kyoto, Japan — A boy catches and releases turtles at a local creek.
Kyoto, Japan — A maple tree in the summer sun.
Cook Inlet, Alaska — A boy and his father prepare to check the nets.
Cook Inlet, Alaska — Salmon fishermen haul their net.
Cook Inlet, Alaska — A tractor helps out on the fish site.
Cook Inlet, Alaska — Kids play atop an ATV on the banks of a family-run salmon fishing operation.
Rumsey, California — Marshall McLaughlin, an intern at a small organic farm in the Capay Valley.
Pembroke, Maine — Severine Von Tscharner Fleming of Smithereen Farm stops on her way to her blueberry barrens.
Machias, Maine — A multi-storied, wooden yurt built by Bill Coperthwaite.
Pembroke, Maine — Launching a kayak on the Pennamaquan River
Palo Alto, California — A high school quarterback asks a friend to deliver a rose during the Homecoming game.
Danube Delta, Romania — A kohai stands in front of a bonfire on the last night of camp.
Maricopa, California — Looking out over the Cuyama Valley
Manhattan, New York — The Columbus Park basketball courts are popular with residents in the Chinatown neighborhood.
Manhattan, New York — Outside of Lincoln Center
Brooklyn, New York — Two mothers hold their daughters while watching July 4th fireworks over the East River.
San Francisco, California — A young girl holds her dog at a Halloween pet costume festival.
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San Francisco, California - Danny Pham shares an intimate moment at GAMeBoi SF.
Part of a 2016 series called Coming Home, which highlighted queer Asian Americans and their concepts of home.
Woodworking
Birch eating set
Cherry table set
Cherry flatpack low table
Small spoon, birch
Birch spoon
Cherry spoon
Stool, salvaged redwood seat, cherry legs
A round stool with a thermochromic leather cushion.
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Birch eating set


















































