veneris-tswd-portfolio

Isabella’s Homepage data viz examples critique by design final project I final project II final project III

Telling Stories with Data - Isabella Veneris

Portfolio

This is my public portfolio for Telling Stories with Data at CMU!

Take a look at my in class example from 10/30:

About me

Hi! My name is Isabella (she/her), and I’m a second-year MSPPM Flagship Student in Heinz College. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I went to the University of Pittsburgh for my undegraduate degree. My primary interests revolve around energy and environmental policy in the United States, but I have a background in Latin American Studies and Political Theory. Fun fact– I went to Bolivia on study abroad and studied public health systems in the country, along with indigenous spheres of knowledge, and I conducted my own research into public attitudes regarding the political system in Bolivia. So, if you ever need to practice Spanish, let me know, I’d love to chat!

At Carnegie Mellon, I’ve focused on taking courses in data analysis and statistical reasoning. In Spring 2025, I developed predictive and prescriptive analyses in R and Excel, including Monte Carlo simulation models, to investigate differences in standardized test scores in Pennsylvania post-pandemic among student groups, and I recommended policy measures to address performance gaps. Additionally, I’ve measurined political polarization through statistical analysis in R among U.S. Congress members spanning all sessions and comparing key eras of political change in the United States.

What I hope to learn

I’m really excited about this class! In other courses, I’ve noticed that I struggle with depicting my data cleanly and concisely, so I knew that I’d need to take this course to develop my skills. I hope to learn:

  1. Basic Design Theory
  2. How to communicate to a broad group of stakeholders, visually
  3. How to simplify abstract concepts in data visualizations

Portfolio

Assignment Visualizing Government Debt, G7 Countries: Visualizing Government Debt

In this assignment, I chose to explore the debt-to-GDP Ratio for the leading G7 Countries. This is located on the data-viz examples tab, in the first section!

Assignment 3&4: Critique By Design - Drug Harms in the UK: Critique by Design

For this assignment, I investigated Drug Harms in the UK, and redesigned an existing viusalization based on concepts we learned in class!

Final project | The Energy Flip: The Transition to Clean Energy in the United States

For my project, I investigated the transition to renewables in the United States, and what policies have helped states strive to make the energy flip. Explore Below!

References

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AI acknowledgements

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