Susan Hildreth talks education with Library Journal

Monday, March 5, 2018

The Information School’s inaugural distinguished practitioner in residence, Susan Hildreth, shared her thoughts on librarianship, education and her experience at the iSchool in a Q&A in the March 2018 edition of Library Journal. Hildreth is the first person to take the professor of practice position, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Its grant funds the position for 10 years and allows the iSchool to bring in up to five leaders in the librarianship field for two-year terms at the UW. The professors of practice bring a fresh perspective from the library world to the a

Freshman admission gives students early path to Informatics

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

It is no secret that the iSchool Informatics program is highly competitive, admitting only a quarter of the applicants every year. The iSchool wants to make this process easier by encouraging high-school students to list Informatics as their first-choice major as part of their University of Washington undergraduate application. The program, Freshman Direct Admission, was updated in 2015 with the goal of admitting about 5 percent of the incoming cohort. In 2017, 28 students were admitted and 16 started the program. Students are not required to complete any prerequisites. To promote the pr

Research Fair showcases iSchool's work across disciplines

Friday, February 23, 2018

Information School researchers took the opportunity to showcase their work on Thursday, Feb. 22, at the annual iSchool Research Fair. The fair featured 70 posters and interactive displays that highlighted the breadth of the iSchool’s research efforts in areas such as data science and analytics, digital youth, health, human-computer interaction, indigenous knowledge, and librarianship. It was the first iSchool Research Fair for Dean Anind Dey, who took the helm in January. In his remarks, Dey spoke of the strength the school draws from the interdisciplinary nature of its research. Am

Informatics student aims to inspire girls to succeed in tech

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Morgan Mackaay was thinking about switching her major to Informatics when she attended a Women in Informatics student group event. She left with not only a deeper interest in Informatics, but also an infectious sense of empowerment. “I remember just leaving that event, feeling on top of the world, like I could go and do anything, like I could really succeed in STEM, and I wanted to re-create that for other girls.” Mackaay set out to do just that by helping to organize a series of “Girls’ Night Out” events at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center. The after-school events startin

Jevin West talks to KING-TV about Russian disinformation campaign

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Information School Assistant Professor Jevin West appeared on KING-TV on Friday, Feb. 16, to discuss charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for their alleged disinformation activities during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. West, who teaches “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data,” discussed the ongoing threats uncovered by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “There are concerted efforts to sow distrust into our institutions, and it doesn’t matter if you’re on the left or the right, it’s happening on both sides. It’s sort of fue

Amy Ko earns prestigious 10-year award from ICSE

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Information School Associate Professor Amy Ko has earned a 10-year most influential paper award from the International Conference on Software Engineering, one of the premier conferences on software engineering research. ICSE selected Ko’s paper, "Debugging reinvented: asking and answering why and why not questions about program behavior,” as the most influential paper from about 60 published in 2008. The work, which Ko published as the last piece of her doctoral dissertation, spawned hundreds of innovations in debugging tools in academia and industry. It is the second time Ko has won a

iSchool alumna chairs Newbery Award panel

Monday, February 12, 2018

An Information School alumna had a major hand in awarding this year’s John Newbery Medal, given for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. Cecilia McGowan, a 1984 alumna of the school’s Master of Librarianship program (now MLIS), chaired the committee that selected this year’s winner. The 2018 award, announced Feb. 12, went to “Hello, Universe,” written by Erin Entrada Kelly. Newbery Honors went to “Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut,” written by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James; “Long Way Down,” written by Jason Reynolds; and “Piecing Me

Dean Anind Dey is GeekWire's 'Geek of the Week'

Friday, February 9, 2018

Information School Dean Anind Dey was featured in GeekWire on Feb. 9 as the website’s “Geek of the Week.” Dey, who took over as dean in January, told GeekWire: “It’s wonderful to be in a place that combines a focus on innovation with values of social justice, enabling the solving of real-world problems.” Dey told the website about his transition from Pittsburgh to Seattle and his role as an administrator and researcher at the iSchool. “My research is all about how to leverage passively sensed information about people and their behaviors and actions, and to use models of

iSchool studies next frontier for libraries: virtual reality

Monday, February 5, 2018

Public libraries have always been places to let your imagination run wild. A good book or a DVD can take you on an adventure to another world. So, too, can virtual reality, where you can put on a headset and feel as if you’ve been transported anywhere on Earth – or even beyond. That would seem to make public libraries and VR a perfect match – with the right training and programming for users. That’s where Information School researchers come in. Led by Assistant Professor Negin Dahya and Associate Professor Jin Ha Lee, an iSchool team is investigating how libraries can make the

Hundreds of students make an impression at iSchool Career Fair

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Hundreds of sharp-dressed, resume-toting students sought to make an impression on potential employers at the annual Information School Career Fair on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in the HUB on the University of Washington campus. A total of 834 students, including about 500 from the iSchool’s programs, met with representatives from more than three dozen companies and organizations, including event sponsors eBay, Starbucks, The Creative Group and Weebly. The iSchool Career Fair showcased a wide range of information technology and information science jobs and internships. It was open only to iSchoo

iSchool Study Abroad adds New Zealand, India, Myanmar to summer lineup

Thursday, January 25, 2018

This summer, students can explore six culturally diverse countries through the iSchool study abroad program. Now in their 11th year, study abroad programs are led by iSchool faculty and collaborators and take place over three to four weeks. Students can analyze one of the busiest transportation systems in the world in India; understand how information communication technologies are rapidly evolving in Myanmar; participate in the biennial conference of the Australasian Children’s Literature Association in New Zealand; explore issues of “wayfinding” through the lens of place an

Students hack for social good at WINFO Hackathon

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

More than 200 students from across the University of Washington spent a good chunk of their weekend dreaming up ideas at the 6th annual Women In Informatics (WINFO) Hackathon. This year’s Hackathon, held on the Saturday before the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, was centered on an appropriate question: “What does equality mean to you?” Participants were challenged to work in groups of four or fewer students to devise ways for technology to promote equality. Tiffany Chen, co-president of the WINFO student group, estimated that about two-thirds of attendees were at their firs

UW Global Innovation grant awarded to iSchool's Lefthand-Begay

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

The University of Washington’s Global Innovation Fund (GIF) recently awarded iSchool Assistant Professor Clarita Lefthand-Begay seed funding for her research project, “A Cross Cultural Comparison of Water Insecurity Impacts on the Health and Culture of Indigenous Peoples: Water, Place, and Culture.” Lefthand-Begay will collaborate with researchers from the School of Social Work, the Intellectual House, and the UW EDGE Center. According to her GIF application, the project will “examine the state of water quality, quantity and accessibility and how these factors influence the cult

Ph.D. student part of team honored by 'Oscars of Invention'

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Information School Ph.D. student Luke Rodriguez was part of a team that recently won an R&D 100 Award, known as the “Oscars of Invention.” Rodriguez, a first-year student in the iSchool doctoral program, worked on the winning project while on staff at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. He was the lead developer on the Designs for Risk Evaluation and Modeling (DREAM) project, a software tool that helps researchers design monitoring configurations to quickly identify leaks at carbon storage sites. DREAM was included in a larger kit called the Nation

New dean finds a lot to love about the iSchool

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Anind Dey had a great job at Carnegie Mellon University and a great life in Pittsburgh, so why would he ever leave? Becoming the dean of the University of Washington Information School, it turns out, was just too good to pass up. “I can’t point to one reason,” he said. “I can point to about eight.” The quality of the iSchool’s faculty was at the top of his list, along with the interdisciplinary nature of the school and its strength and prestige. For the son of two public schoolteachers, the chance to make an impact at a large, public university was appealing. And as a native