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