Jillian Vordick
Hi! I’m Jillian. I care deeply about telling stories, and I enjoy learning and using new tools to do so. I build online experiences of data-driven investigations. I also enjoy creating and visualizing archives and datasets from nontraditional sources.
I’m pursuing my MS in Computational Design because I believe that computational methods offer significant advancements in rigorous, truthful, and impactful storytelling.
I previously ran an award-winning podcast, Pit Perspectives UNC, which investigated social and political topics through the words of students at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To listen to the show on Spotify, click here.
I’m pursuing my MS in Computational Design because I believe that computational methods offer significant advancements in rigorous, truthful, and impactful storytelling.
I previously ran an award-winning podcast, Pit Perspectives UNC, which investigated social and political topics through the words of students at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To listen to the show on Spotify, click here.
When I’m not reading, writing, coding, or researching, you can find me rock climbing in West Virginia.
education
Carnegie Mellon University
MS Computational Design 2025-2027
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
BA Philosophy 2021-2025
Graduated with Highest Honors
Duke University
BA Philosophy (dual-enrolled) 2021-2025
The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program
Full-ride merit scholarship allowing for joint study between UNC and Duke.
Awarded 12/2021
Python
JavaScript
D3.js
Svelte
HTML
CSS
GitHub
geospatial:
ArcGIS
Datawrapper
Mapbox GL JS
QGIS
3D modeling:
Houdini
Grasshopper
SketchUp
Adobe Substance Stager
MetaShape (photogrammetry)
Unity
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Figma
Flourish
video/animation/audio:
Final Cut Pro X
Motion
TouchDesigner
data:
Pandas/Polars
GeoPandas
Matplotlib/Seaborn
Natural Language Processing (embeddings, UMAP, tokenization, semantic analysis)
Excel
Sheets
Airtable
The Wall Street Journal, June 2026 - Aug. 2026
Interactive Cartography Researcher and Engineer
Carnegie Mellon University, Jan. 2026 - May 2026
· Assisting Professor Stephanie Lee's radical ruralism project by designing and developing interactive web maps.
Visualization ResearcherDuke University, Aug. 2024 - May 2025
· Member of Dr. Rebecca Stein’s Team, War and Visual Archives: The Israel-Gaza War and Beyond.
· Curated a digital research archive of non-photographic images, focusing on AI-generated images.
· Analyzed journalistic and investigative methods for documenting and visualizing racial violence.
Routesetter and DesignerThe Boulder Garden, Nov. 2024 - May 2025
· Built and tested rock climbing routes for climbers of all abilities, balancing aesthetics and movement.
· Created graphics for social media, stickers, t-shirts, and other merchandise.
Writer and Producer
Pit Perspectives UNC Podcast, Aug 2021 - Jan. 2024
· Led a team of 15 students in creating episodes highlighting UNC student views on social topics.
· Researched, wrote, and hosted 45-minute episodes covering interviews with students and experts, history, and current events; organized and synthesized 100+ student interviews per episode.
· Grew the show to 5,000 streams; featured on the UNC Philosophy, Politics, and Economics webpage.
· Conducted and arranged interviews with industry professionals for episode features.
relevant coursework
Computational Spatial Storytelling (Spring 2026)
Natural Language Processing (Spring 2026)
Applied Political Data Analysis (Spring 2026)
Fundamentals of Programming (Fall 2025)
Data Visualization (Fall 2025)
Creative Cartography (Spring 2024)
Data Journalism (Fall 2024)
Creative Nonfiction Writing (Fall 2024)
Masterworks of Journalism (Fall 2024)
Computational Media (Fall 2024)
Fact-Checking (Spring 2023).
awards
2x Award of Excellence, 47th Society for News Design Annual Creative Competition
April 2026
Given to my individual multiplatform portfolio and my story, Back to the Drawing Board.
2nd Place Best Podcast College Broadcasters Inc. National Contest October 2022
Given to my Pit Perspectives UNC episode “The Ethics of Pit Preaching: Conversation and Censorship at UNC.”
Robertson Scholars Leadership Program 2022-2025
The Robertson Scholarship is a full-ride merit scholarship program at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Last Updated 05.11.2026