Peng “Fion” Chenn

Working with P.J. Huffstutter to build a unique, searchable database of farm debt and loan defaults across America.

Peng “Fion” Chen received her master’s degree at the Missouri School of Journalism in May 2020 with a focus on data journalism. Over the past two years, Chen has worked for Columbia Missourian, VTDigger.org and Missouri Business Alert, covering public policy, healthcare and business in Missouri and Vermont. She previously worked as a newspaper reporter for more than five years in Taiwan, where she is from.

At the Watchdog Writers Group, Chen has worked with Huffstutter to build a unique database of federal farm loans that will allow users, for the first time, to examine trends in loans and loan failures across the Farm Belt. Chen’s analysis of the data revealed the flaws in the system and helped Huffstutter narrow the focus of her investigation.