aida ylanan

adjunct assistant professor @ columbia journalism school

portfolio

compiled work from the los angeles times

A diptych of choropleth maps showing the Filipino and Cambodian shares of the total Asian population in the Harbor area of Los Angeles County.

How Los Angeles County became home to the biggest AAPI communities in the country

role data collection, data analysis, visualization

tools Python, QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, ai2html

Four bar charts showing results in key races during the 2024 primary election.

Primary election results: Congressional and California

role backend infrastructure, data processing

tools Amazon Web Services, Baker (html/css, js, node), Python

A bar chart showing the donation totals by organization type received by Adam Schiff's leadership committee Frontline USA

Porter attacks Schiff for taking ‘dirty money.’ His response? ‘I gave that money to you’

role data collection, data analysis, visualization

tools Python, Datawrapper

A choropleth map of a neighborhood in Skid Row that shows how AHF-owned buildings receive some of the highest numbers of complaints compared to similar residential buildings in the area.

Inside the world’s largest AIDS charity’s troubled move into homeless housing

role data analysis, visualization

tools Python, QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, ai2html, Datawrapper

A terrain map of the historic Tulare lakebed and surrounding areas that illustrates the land holdings of the Boswell Company, which owns about 44% of the lakebed.

How powerful land barons shaped the epic floods in California’s heartland

role data collection, spatial analysis, visualization

tools Python, QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, ai2html

A bar chart showing the number of PGA Tour wins among the five states with the most wins. California leads the pack, with a majority of wins coming from players born in Southern California.

Meet the home team: SoCal golfers at LACC for U.S. Open seek elusive majors win

role data collection, analysis, visualization

tools R, Datawrapper

A satellite image of flooding in Kings County on April 30, 2023.

Where will all that snow go? Here’s what California’s “Big Melt” looks like

role satellite data, graphics

tools Adobe Illustrator

A gif of an interactive map showing information on houses in the Exide cleanup zone.

California’s biggest environmental cleanup leaves lead contamination and frustration

role data analysis, mapping, graphics

tools R, QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, Baker (html/css, js, node), Mapbox

recognition Lawmakers demand EPA action on troubled cleanup of lead-contaminated L.A.-area homes

A gif of photos, writing and other gifs that were part of an online memorial.

Honoring the lives lost in the Monterey Park mass shooting

role reporting, design

tools Baker (html/css, js, node)

recognition Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Breaking News Reporting

A choropleth map of L.A. County showing donations for Sheriff Luna by county.

Track the money flowing into the Los Angeles sheriff’s race

role mapping, development

tools QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, Baker (html/css, js, node), ai2html

The front page of an L.A. Times newspaper.

COVID is still killing hundreds a day, even as society begins to move on

role data analysis, reporting

tools R

A choropleth of county sheriff jurisdiction in L.A. County showing results from the 2022 primary election for sheriff.

L.A. County Sheriff election map shows deep divisions as Villanueva battles for reelection

role data analysis, mapping, reporting, writing

tools Python, QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, Baker (html/css, js, node), Mapbox, ai2html

A dot map of southern California showing voting locations.

Where to vote in Southern California

role data wrangling

tools Python

Five photos of the first few days of the war in Ukraine, arragned against a dark teal background.

The first week of war: How Ukrainian civilians are bearing the burden of Russian invasion

role reporting

tools Baker (html/css, js, node)

A gif showing a historical map overlaid on top of a satellite image of the location many decades later.

Freeways force out residents in communities of color — again

role development

tools Adobe Illustrator, Baker (html/css, js, node), Google Earth

recognition Best of the West Online Presentation 2022, SND Award of Excellence 2021

Quotes arranged around a black and white photo of the Tule Lake concentration camp.

The ‘No-Nos’ of Tule Lake

role reporting, development

tools Adobe Illustrator, Baker (html/css, js, node)

A map of southern California behind the title of the project.

The literary life of Octavia E. Butler

role reporting

tools Baker (html/css, js, node), Mapbox

A gif of the year 2020 with images from the year interspersed throughout the digits.

This is 2020: A visual journey through a historic year

role illustration, reporting

tools Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, Baker (html/css, js, node)

recognition SND Award of Excellence 2020

Seven mini line charts showing Biden's popularity in cities versus Trump's popularity in rural areas.

The USC Daybreak presidential poll

role reporting, development

tools Python, Svelte, Baker (html/css, js, node), GitHub Actions

Dozens of names of individuals killed by police in L.A. County.

L.A. police killings: Tracking homicides in Los Angeles County since 2004

role reporting, development

tools Baker (html/css, js, node), D3

recognition SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Award 2020, SND Award of Excellence 2020

A gif of characters from BoJack Horseman on a webpage designed like an old field guide.

A field guide to BoJack Horseman's Hollywoo

role design, reporting

tools Adobe Illustrator

recognition SND Award of Excellence 2020

A gif of close-up images of the covers of different NYRB Classics books.

Cover to Cover: The Colors of NYRB Classics

role data collection and analysis, reporting, design

tools Python, D3, ImageMagick

recognition SND Bronze Medal 2018

selected writing

Growing Pains: Anna Ting Möller’s Symbiotic Sculptures (Cultbytes)

How The Times’ COVID-19 tracker outran predictions

‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ and ‘Elvira’ stars say John Paragon was so much more than Jambi
↳ related Actor John Paragon, Jambi the Genie on ‘Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,’ dies at 66

Long underrepresented in film and TV, Latinos are falling further behind

Remembering ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ author Eric Carle

How ‘Master of None’ got its groundbreaking portrait of in vitro fertilization right

Miss the Spice Girls? A new comedy mocks the ‘misogynistic’ culture behind their rise

Commentary: Netflix’s ‘Terrace House’ has ‘no script,’ until fans and panelists turn on its stars
↳ related Commentary: A suspected suicide. Cyberbullying. Why some call this Netflix reality show ‘toxic’

Here’s what holiday retail workers wish you knew

talks

mar 2025 First Visual Story / Investigative Reporters & Editors (NICAR)

may 2024 Exploring AAPI data in Southern California / Los Angeles Times, AAJA-LA, AAPI Data

may 2024 Data Studio mentorship program / Columbia Journalism School

mar 2024 First Visual Story / Investigative Reporters & Editors (NICAR)

may 2023 ASA DataFest Judge / UCLA Statistics & Data Science

mar 2023 First Visual Story / Investigative Reporters & Editors (NICAR)

nov 2022 Bruins Breaking News: Inside Careers in Journalism / UCLA Humanities

july 2022 Go For Broke Summer Journalism Institute / AAJA-LA, Go For Broke National Education Center

mar 2021 Learning to code: What's holding you back? / Investigative Reporters & Editors (NICAR)

jan 2020 Book Club: Ocean Vuong / Los Angeles Times

july 2019 Book Club: Laila Lalami / Los Angeles Times

apr 2018 Intro to Data Viz in R / UCLA Statistics (DataFest)

previous roles

2024-2025 Visual Information Specialist, Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

2021-2024 Data and Graphics Journalist / Los Angeles Times

2019-2021 Metpro Fellow / Los Angeles Times

2018 Data Desk Intern / Los Angeles Times

2016-2018 Student Educator / Hammer Museum

2017 Front End Development Intern / Colab

2016 Advocacy Team Intern / Women's Aid Organisation

about

Hi, I'm an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where I teach data visualization. I grew up in Long Beach, CA, and graduated from UCLA, where I studied statistics and English. When I'm not working, I like visiting museums, reading books, and traveling.

contact

github / linkedin
✉️ ylanan.aida [at] gmail [dot] com
résumé available upon request

updated june 2025