Tireless student advocate and longtime Informatics chair

Monday, July 26, 2021

Our dear friend and colleague Scott Barker, Associate Teaching Professor and Director of iSchool IT, passed away unexpectedly on Friday, July 23, 2021. For over 20 years, Scott has been an integral part of the iSchool community and we are incredibly fortunate to have had the privilege of working with him.  During his tenure, he was a teaching faculty member and head of IT at the iSchool, and from 2006 until 2017, served as chair of the Informatics program. Scott was an outspoken and tireless advocate for the students he taught and worked hard to expand access to our Informatics

Read-a-Rama expands its reach with summer camps

Friday, July 23, 2021

Read-a-Rama is going national this summer with a pair of online camps designed to engage children with books and spark a love of reading. Led by Michelle Martin, the Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services at the University of Washington Information School, Read-a-Rama is a nonprofit that uses children’s books as a springboard for other activities such as singing, movement, hands-on crafts, STEM activities and games. It offers camps and storytimes year-round and immersive weeklong camps each summer. This summer’s camps are “Cooking Up a Storm,” on the theme

Tanu Mitra wins grant, award for young researchers

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Tanu Mitra recently notched a pair of awards for young researchers — one of them a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, and the other a career honor from a leading conference on social media research. Mitra, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Information School, won the grant from the military’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) to study influence campaigns in Southeast Asia, focusing primarily on India. Over the next three years, Mitra will lead a team that investigates both the narratives that flow through social media platforms and the effect of influence campa

2 MLIS students awarded ALA Spectrum Scholarships

Friday, July 16, 2021

University of Washington Master of Library and Information Science students Truc Ho and Kaitlin Srader are among those awarded 2021-22 ALA Spectrum Scholarships, the American Library Association announced. Ho, a second-year residential student living in Seattle, focused on critical race theory, memory studies and feminist studies as an undergrad at the UW and seeks to make catalog records more inclusive to marginalized communities. Ho is a recipient of a UW BoundLIS Fellowship — a partnership between the Information School and UW Libraries — and a graduate assistant in Cataloging an

From ‘distress’ to ‘unscathed’ — mental health of UW students during spring 2020

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

In early March 2020, the University of Washington became the first four-year U.S. university to transition to online-only classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many researchers predicted severe consequences of these physical distancing measures. To understand how this change affected college students’ mental health, UW researchers surveyed 147 UW students over the 2020 spring quarter, which began shortly after the university transitioned to online-only classes. The team compared the students’ responses to a previous survey of 253 students in spring quarter 2019. The re

2 student leaders represent iSchool as gonfalonieres at UW Commencement

Monday, June 14, 2021

Graduating Informatics students Kiran Pradhan and Akoly Vongdala represented the Information School as gonfalonieres — banner carriers — at the University of Washington’s Commencement ceremony on June 12. Gonfalonieres are selected by their program advisors and exemplify undergraduate education at the UW. At this year’s online ceremony, they led their school’s graduates during the commencement procession. Pradhan, whose studies concentrated on data science, wrote: “I chose Informatics because of the inclusive and welcoming community and the great opportunities available f

Cheryl Metoyer has made the iSchool feel like home to Indigenous scholars

Monday, June 14, 2021

At the University, this is the time of year for fond farewells. In June, we graduate hundreds of students and welcome them to our growing alumni community. This year, we’re also saying goodbye to one member of our faculty whose impact is difficult to overstate.  Cheryl Metoyer joined the Information School full-time in 2003, in the early days after its conversion from a single library science program to a broad-based iSchool. The school’s first Dean, Michael Eisenberg, recruited her based on her tireless work to improve Native American library and information services, with the g

iSchool alum awarded inaugural Ph.D. fellowship in Native North American Indigenous Knowledge

Monday, June 14, 2021

In 2019 Iisaaksiichaa Ross Braine was named the iSchool Distinguished Alumnus, in tribute to his work as the UW tribal liaison and director of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (Intellectual House). Two years later, he’s returning to the iSchool with new goals in mind.   “I think it’s time...to turn that next page and fulfill an obligation I made to my grandparents a while ago to get my Ph.D.,” Braine says.  Braine, a citizen of the warrior Apsaalooke (Crow) Nation, will join the Information School’s doctoral program with the ambition of conducting research that supports American

iSchool celebrates class of 2021 at online Convocation

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Family, friends and pets of the iSchool community gathered around their computers, phones and TVs to celebrate the class of 2021 at the iSchool’s online Convocation ceremony on June 5. The ceremony included opening remarks by Dean Anind K. Dey, followed by keynote speaker, Rena Priest, the Washington State Poet Laureate.   Several faculty members shared congratulatory messages with the graduation class. They included Cindy Aden, Katie Davis, Mike Doane, Matthew Saxton, Joseph Janes, Sandy Littletree, Carole Palmer, Nam-ho Park, Chirag Shah, Jaime Snyder and Jevin West. "Whe

MSIM student wins data science award at tech start-up

Monday, June 7, 2021

Chen Song, a Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) student graduating this spring, was recently awarded the Loxz Digital Excellence in Data Science Award at Loxz Digital Group, a tech start-up that builds machine learning models to enhance business reports for companies.  The award is given each month to one employee who makes outstanding progress in their work. For Song, who is currently a data science intern, she provided vital insights on the company’s survey data and created a white paper about its machine learning methodology. “Her tireless efforts working

By auditing algorithms, iSchool researchers work to better understand misinformation

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been media reports about Amazon book search algorithms putting health- and vaccine-related misinformation at the top of reading lists. But as the pandemic has brought new attention to the risks of algorithm-amplified misinformation, just how bad is the problem? Is there any concrete, empirical evidence to prove or disprove anecdotal stories, opinion pieces and other assertions coming out in popular press in recent years? A paper recently presented by University of Washington Information School researchers at a leading academi

Ricardo Gomez to travel to Colombia with Fulbright fellowship

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

About 400 miles from Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, an expanse of mountainous rainforest known as the Colombian Vaupés is home to the Cubeo Indigenous People. The land, which is part of the Amazon Basin, preserves a rich knowledge system that is integral to protecting the Vaupés’ ecosystem.  But today, the Colombian Vaupés is in danger – governments and multinational corporations are mining the region’s natural resources, damaging the habitat and livelihood of the Cubeo people. Ricardo Gomez, an associate professor at the Information School, was recently awarded

Six scholars to join iSchool faculty

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

The University of Washington Information School is honored to welcome six new faculty members. These hires will inform undergraduate and graduate education in the iSchool’s Informatics, Library and Information Science and Information Management programs. Four scholars join the school as teaching faculty with expertise ranging from data and design to business intelligence and information management. Aylin Caliskan and Lindah Kotut join the iSchool as tenure-track, research faculty. Caliskan investigates the implications of machine intelligence on equity and fairness. Kotut’s research see

Student teams tackle timely topics with Capstone projects

Friday, May 28, 2021

Nearly 650 students, faculty, partners and friends attended the University of Washington Information School’s annual Capstone gala event on May 27. For the second year in a row, the event was held virtually and participation was optional for student teams.  The event featured 90 projects from the iSchool’s Bachelor of Science in Informatics, Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) and Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) programs. Most projects were team-based with 2-4 students collaborating to solve a real-world information problem, but individual

5 iSchool students among Husky 100

Monday, May 24, 2021

The UW has recognized five students from the Information School for the 2021 Husky 100, awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate leadership and commitment throughout their time at the UW.  This year’s 100 winners were selected from nearly 600 applications from all three UW campuses. More than 1,700 students were nominated by peers, faculty and staff.  The iSchool honorees include one student from the Informatics program, one from the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) program, one from the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)