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Libby Seline

Data Journalist, Pulitzer Prize Winner

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About Me

Honestly, it feels very weird to have my own website. As the stereotypical youngest child, I love attention, but I can't help but despise advertising myself for the whole world to see. Perhaps that's a midwest thing? Or maybe the fact that I'm secretly 80-years-old. Who's to say?

I was born and raised in Omaha, NE, and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2021. I'm the youngest of four and all of us were born in a five year period. I did what I could to stand out among my siblings but somehow ended up enjoying the same activities they did, such as newspaper. I actually come from a family of journalists, but I never thought I'd actually be a journalist until I wrote my first story. I was instantly hooked.

Still, my mom insisted I put my "math brain" to good use. So, I entered the world of data journalism with the help of my colleagues at Climate Change Nebraska, The New York Times, The Salt Lake Tribune and The Dow Jones News Fund. In 2021, I was part of The New York Times' Pulitzer Prize winning team that collected data related to COVID-19 cases across the U.S. — including the incarcerated population.

Between July 2021 and January 2024, I served as the data reporter at the San Antonio Express-News via the Texas Development Hub, and I then worked at the Flatwater Free Press as their first election guide editor. I'm currently a UChicago graduate student studying Computational Analysis and Public Policy. I will graduate in June 2026. Explore my data-related journalism endeavors below.

My Favorite Clips

San Antonio ZIP code where fatal dog attack occurred had most bites, animal-related complaints

San Antonio has a stray dog problem. The San Antonio 311 database is filled with animal complaints — including reports of dog bites — across the city. When I learned that someone had died after a dog attacked them, I wanted to write a story that showed how often bites occur. Working with an editor, we realized that the ZIP code where a man had recently died was also the place where the most bites had been reported. This information shifted the story a bit, and I wrote about my findings.

Getting off easy — how drunken drivers in Bexar County beat the rap

In Bexar County — home to San Antonio — first time DWI offenders who meet specific criteria are allowed to receive a lesser charge known as "obstruction." Reporters approached me and wanted to know the effectiveness of this program, and through my analysis, we learned that this program — called "Taking Responsibility" — actually allows people to avoid it. 

Our work prompted the county to take a look at this program, and official changes are pending. Our code can be viewed here.  

Hearst Newspapers examines the controversial use of restraint and seclusion in schools nationwide

During the beginning of my time at Hearst, I was given a task to make a database of children who died after being restrained. One name unfortunately led to several other names — until we compiled a database of more than 80 children and young adults. 

That database was a part of a larger investigation about seclusion and restraint in schools across the country. My colleagues and I worked tirelessly to tell the stories of children across the country who have been restrained. In addition to leading the database creation, I co-wrote a story about restraints in Texas. That story focussed on two families: one family whose child had died after a restraint and another family whose children had been restrained several times.

Our efforts caught the attention of officials nationwide. and sparked a conversation about restraint in schools. 

Gov. Abbott, police response were most-tweeted topics in aftermath of Uvalde massacre

On the night of the Uvalde massacre, I twiddled my thumbs; I knew I needed to do something, but I didn't know what data could help this situation. How could a data journalist help cover this tragedy?

Well, then I remembered question I've wanted to know after every mass shooting: When would the conversation dry up? When would the calls for action end? 

So, I set up a Twitter scraper so I could gather the most recent tweets containing the word "Uvalde." And after several months of analysis/data collection, I wrote about my findings. 

How COVID ravaged San Antonio’s South Side

A reporter approached me with an incredible story idea that she had thoroughly researched. She knew that San Antonio residents who lived on the Southside had worse access to healthcare. It was just a matter of using data to prove it. 

So, I spent two months answering questions, finding the data to best tell the story. Her hypothesis was correct, and the data paired with the narratives told a groundbreaking story. The methodology can be found here

Incarcerated and Infected: How the Virus Tore Through the U.S. Prison System

In April 2020, The New York Times reporter Timothy Williams and I began putting together a spreadsheet to track COVID-19 cases across the U.S. I had never talked to an inmate before and knew very little about criminal justice, but Timothy believed in my abilities as a journalist and had me report. I felt so lucky to be reporting for NYT, and I was honored that people were sharing their harrowing stories with me, trusting me to tell it. A group of other New York Times reporters and I spent the past year talking to inmates, loved ones, prison officials, and non-profits so we could track COVID-19 cases. Our results are harrowing, as shown in the article and in this Twitter thread.

‘I Just Kind of Lost It’: As Coronavirus Cases Soar, One Montana Town Reels

I was part of a team of reporters who tracked COVID cases throughout the United States. This article focussed on one data point: an uptick in cases at a jail in Montana. I worked with a team of reporters to figure out how to best tell the stories and conducted several interviews to learn about the people inside the jail and how the spread of COVID-19 impacted their lives.

Skills

Experience

UChicago Justice Project: Chicago, IL

Reearch Assistant

  • Answer research questions pertaining to homicides in Chicago since 1800s by collaborating with the lead professor, our senior data scientist and three fellow research assistants
  • Write code using R/RStudio that correctly identifies increases in deaths in 100+ hexagonal geographic areas to evaluate factors that maybe have contributed to increase in Chicago neighborhood killings

Flatwater Free Press: Omaha, NE

Elections Guide Editor

  • Developed and administered an election candidate survey with a series of 5 point Likert scale questions regarding stances on polarizing issues in Nebraska; oversaw 60% return rate from the questionnaire to produce a voter guide for Nebraskans
  • Created pivot tables to summarize the data for 30+ different elections and respective candidates and used the findings to write 400-word paragraphs for each race to promote understanding of critical issues before the November 2024 election

San Antonio Express-News/Hearst Texas Development Hub: San Antonio, TX

Data Reporter

  • Produced quick-turn data stories 1-3 times each month by analyzing requested or public datasets with thousands of rows via R/ RStudio to determine the data’s cleanliness and evaluate how to most accurately answer readers’ questions
  • Visualized and identified trends and outliers in maps and graphs via Datawrapper and Flourish programs to find people represented in the data so their story can be told and the community problem could be understood
  • Conducted analysis for longterm and investigative articles by defining the problem facing the community and developing a list of questions to ask of the data so the investigation could serve a clear purpose

Lincoln Journal Star: Lincoln, NE

Intern

  • Conducted interviews with 50+ politicians, landlords, students and other members of the Lincoln community to produce 2-3 stories each week to inform readers about fellow residents and different events, such as a marathon, internet gatherings with 1,000+ attendees and COVID-19 vaccine clinics

The New York Times: Remote

Coronavirus Tracker/Stringer

  • Monitored the spread of COVID-19 among incarcerated people by manually collecting data from the nations 2,000+ state, federal and local correctional facilities and tracking changes in a Google spreadsheet to inform the public about outbreaks
  • Developed relationships with records custodians and filing records requests at least once a week to ensure data was current and up to date so corresponding graphics could inform people of the latest information regarding COVID-19 in facilities
  • Interviewed incarcerated people, family members and advocates to learn about the stories represented in the data and then publish articles about hardships of coronavirus outbreak in all U.S. prison facilities

The Salt Lake Tribune: Salt Lake City, UT

Dow Jones News Fund Data Reporter

  • Assisted newsroom coverage of Black Lives Matter protests by interviewing attendees and coordinating coverage with photographers, editors and reporters to effectively cover a historical event as it occurs
  • Cleaned and analyzed hundreds of rows of calls for service data in R/RStudio to help more than 30,000 readers understand how police operations are executed in Salt Lake City

Climate Change Nebraska: Lincoln, NE

Data Journalist

  • Informed Nebraskans about climate change survey results and fossil fuel usage by utilizing R/RStudio to analyze, graph and map data and then writing about findings to composes articles about Nebraskans’ belief in climate change and how COVID-19 impacted activists

The Daily Nebraskan: Lincoln, NE

News Reporter, Senior News Editor

  • As a reporter : I composed more than 200 articles for the online publication by interviewing and developing relationships with local officials and peers so the student body could be well-informed about issues.
  • As a senior news editor: I finalized about five stories for publication several days each week and led investigations by enforcing and developing thorough editing guidelines to ensure reporters produced accurate, quality stories and improved their journalistic abilities.

Checkout Ireland Magazine: Dublin, Ireland

News Reporter

  • Summarized press releases on a weekly basis by heeding advice from my superiors and learning about the grocery retail industry so Ireland professionals could remain informed about related national and international happenings. I also engaged with audience members by managing the social media accounts of the publication to ensure readers were knowledgable about published stories.

Transport Topics: Arlington, Virginia

Intern

  • Wrote in-depth stories for a weekly publication by working with editors and fellow journalists to research people, places and trends in the trucking industry so readers could be more knowledgeable about the profession.

Education

University of Chicago

August 2024 - June 2026 (Expected)

Master of Science in Computational Analysis and Public Policy

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

August 2017 - May 2021

Bachelor of Journalism

Dow Jones News Fund

May 2020

Data Journalism Training

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