Cox was born in Michigan in 1980, and raised by her accountant parents. She earned her bachelor's degree in economics from St. Olaf College in 2001. In 2005, she received her master's degree in statistics from the University of Washington.
Career and research
She began her career at the New York Times as a summer intern while in graduate school. Cox worked at the Federal Reserve Board from 2001 to 2003. Cox was hired in 2005 as a graphics editor at The New York Times. In her years at the Times, Cox has worked on many stories using statistics and data visualization, making the Times one of the leaders in news graphics according to the Harvard Business Review. On April 22, 2014 the New York Times website launched its data journalism section The Upshot with Amanda Cox as graphics editor. Cox was named editor of The Upshot in early 2016, called "a rare intellect" and "a crucial part of the future leadership of The Times". Her desk created the election monitoring needle for the 2016 US Presidential Election. In late 2017 Cox implemented a "live polling" feature at the Times, partnering with Siena College, allowing for election results in real time. Cox is considered one of the Times' "resident experts on polling." Cox is a leader in the field of data visualization, called "the Michael Phelps of infographics". Her conference talks have included Shaping Data for News at the Eyeo festival, and a keynoting at OpenVis Conf in 2013 and 2017. In her opening keynote in 2013, Cox said design "wasn't ultimately about typography and whitespace, but about empathy—about creating visualizations that readers can both understand and engage with emotionally." Since Cox's tenure the times has "led the field of innovative information graphics" and "raised the bar of journalistic interactive visualization." She has also served as the judge for data visualization competitions and several of her data visualizations were selected for The Best American Infographics 2014 and The Best American Infographics 2016.
Where the Poor Live Longer: How Your Area Compares
You Draw It: How Family Income Predicts Children's College Chances
Money, Race and Success: How Your School District Compares
Awards
Cox received the National Design Award in 2009, along with her graphics team at The New York Times. In 2011, Cox's team was awarded a Malofiej award for their Features Graphics Portfolio. Cox was awarded the Excellence in Statistical Reporting Award by the American Statistical Association in 2012. Her team has won a Gerald Loeb Award four times: in 2013 for Economics Interactives, in 2014 for Interactive Graphics, in 2016 for Making Data Visual and in 2017 for Business Visuals.
