irena li

work

last spring, I interned at the research and copy desks for FiveThirtyEight (RIP). I helped gather data for aggregation and forecasting, including the 2024 presidential forecast. I also copy-edited and fact-checked stories and interactives.

some of my favorite projects I worked on at 538 (all archive links):

• congressional clustering aka "quiet caucuses"
• 2024 election forecast
• how congress uses continuing resolutions to punt funding deadlines

last summer, I worked as a summer engineering analyst at goldman sachs in manhattan, new york.

I've previously worked in a computational social science lab and a psycholinguistics lab at the university of michigan.

over the years I've worked at libraries, edited for newspapers, and served at a Thai restaurant.

writing

I have bylines in my school paper, 538 [archive link], and bridge michigan. here are some of my favorite pieces.

• how michigan's returning citizens are coming home and finding work
• univeristy of michigan board of regents allegedly considering cuts to dei
• abortion-rights ballot measures are leading in the polls [archive link]
• investigative piece on alleged misrepresentation of ballot initiatives
• long covid remains debilitating medical mystery for michigan sufferers
• michigan medicine nurses on strike
• umich debuts undergraduate robotics program
• the man behind the michigan DNR's twitter account

misc

visual art

my favorite subjects to paint are birds, ducks in particular