Journalism Fellow, Ava Hu, will grow data visualization skills at DSE

By DSE September 10, 2025

Ava is pursuing a master's in data reporting at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and joins DSE as a fellow this semester.
 

At the Graduate School of Journalism, Ava focuses on data reporting and local accountability stories. Her work has covered immigration, higher education, and public records, with reporting on immigrants published in The Guardian.

 

When the 2025 Texas flood struck, Ava was interning at the Houston Chronicle. That experience pulled her into climate reporting, writing stories about how global warming is understood not just as science, but as something that shapes daily choices and anxieties. Ava turned research center data into an interactive map that showed how Texans worry about climate change in very different ways (see below).

 

Screenshot of a Houston Chronicle article written by Ava Hu titled "How concerned are Houstonians about climate change" with a grey-scale map of the southern US, depicting interest in climate change by county
During her recent internship at the Houston Chronicle, Ava created a map depicting how concern about climate change varies by county across the US.

 

Through her fellowship at DSE, Ava hopes to deepen her understanding of environmental issues, not only the science behind them, but also the human stories of how communities live with their consequences. For her, data is a tool for building narratives that move beyond isolated anecdotes and show the larger patterns shaping people’s lives. She wants to become a data journalist who can bring both clarity and depth to complex topics, helping readers see how individual experiences fit into wider trends.

 

Outside of reporting, Ava enjoys design and video editing and continues to update her personal channel in her free time. She also shares her home with a seven-year-old cat, who makes sure she stays grounded and fully recharged each day. 

 

This is the second fellowship DSE has hosted in collaboration with the Graduate School of Journalism. We look forward to working with Ava this semester!