MLIS alum named Federal Librarian of the Year

Monday, August 11, 2025

Jared Nistler, a 2020 Master of Library and Information Science graduate, recently was recognized as the Federal Librarian of the Year. The award, announced by the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) through the Library of Congress, celebrates federal librarians who have developed innovative ways to serve and meet the nation’s information demands.A senior systems librarian at the Ralph J. Bunche Library in Washington, D.C., Nistler supports the 70,000 employees in the U.S. Department of State. He was nominated by fellow librarians who recognized his commitment to

iSchool's Chirag Shah honored as a leading figure in information retrieval

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Information School Professor Chirag Shah was among the 2025 cohort elected to the SIGIR Academy, a prestigious honor that recognizes leaders who have significantly shaped the field of information retrieval.  SIGIR is the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval. They promote the research and development of search and other information access technologies. Each year, SIGIR selects three to five nominees to join its academy based on the criteria of cumulative contributions, research impact, innovation and service. This

Q&A: Ryan Calo on why 'we need to take a page from the Amish' 

Monday, July 21, 2025

Ryan Calo holds a joint appointment as a professor in the Information School and as the Lane Powell and D. Wayne Gittinger Professor at the UW School of Law. Calo is a prominent voice in tech policy both on campus and globally, with his work appearing in leading law reviews. He is also co-founder of the UW Tech Policy Lab and the Center for an Informed Public. We sat down with Calo to talk about his research on law and emerging technologies, related legal challenges and his upcoming publications. Q: In your view, what are the most pressing legal challenges of regulating AI

Ph.D. alum Yim Register, '25, wins global dissertation award

Friday, July 11, 2025

Ph.D. ‘25 alum Yim Register is one of two recipients of this year’s iSchools Doctoral Dissertation Award. Register became the second University of Washington Information School student to receive the recognition. “I am delighted and honored to have received this award. None of this would have been possible without such incredible iSchool professors and collaborators,” said Register. “I am especially grateful to my committee (Emma Spiro, Jevin West, Wanda Pratt and Amy Zhang) as well as iSchool professors who shaped my learning and growth in immeasurable ways.”Register not

iSchool funds studies on smartphone habits, Indigenous guidance

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Two faculty-led research projects recently received grants from the iSchool to help them further their work and create lasting impact with the help of the Strategic Research Fund (SRF). The SRF is a funding opportunity that supports projects that align with the iSchool’s strategic vision. This year the iSchool selected two projects — one led by Alexis Hiniker and one led by Lindah Kotut.The iSchool selected Hiniker’s “SleepStreak: Redesigning the Smartphone to Support Healthy Sleep Habits” as a recipient. Hiniker and her team are exploring whether there is a way to create a phon

MSIM team helps PitchBook handle data requests

Monday, July 7, 2025

PitchBook, a Seattle-based financial data provider, tracks and analyzes information on millions of companies worldwide — from household names to startups just opening their doors. Investors rely heavily on PitchBook's comprehensive data, paying a premium for its insights into private equity, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. It’s a large volume of data to keep up with, as company details are constantly in flux: executives change, employee headcounts shift, and new businesses emerge — some in stealth mode. PitchBook’s clients send the company research requests every da

Alumni hail impact of retiring iMentorship director

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Building successful, thriving, happy information leaders is Laura Schildkraut’s mission. Since joining the Information School in 2012, she has helped shape and support students.She recently announced that she will retire this summer, having made her mark at the iSchool as an educator and director of the iMentorship program.Schildkraut began her relationship with the iSchool when she crafted a three-episode TV show with the iSchool’s founding dean, Michael Eisenberg. Called “Information Matters,” the show aired on UWTV and The Research Channel and included interviews with indi

Four scholars to join the Information School faculty

Thursday, July 3, 2025

The University of Washington Information School faculty welcomes four colleagues to their ranks for the start of the 2025-26 academic year. These scholars will inform the School’s mission, supporting research as well as undergraduate and graduate education in the Informatics, Information Management, Library and Information Science, and Museology programs.Two of the scholars are taking on new roles at the Information School. They, along with the two incoming faculty bring significant teaching and research expertise applied across fields as diverse as human-computer interaction, Indigenous kno

Informatics students present startup idea at Husky PitchFest

Friday, June 27, 2025

Coming up with a startup idea is the first step for a hopeful entrepreneur. The next steps are development and eventually pitching to investors. The 2025 Husky PitchFest provided an opportunity for iSchool students to take that leap and pitch their startup ideas to an audience. On May 15, nearly 100 people gathered in Kane Hall for the competition where startup groups and individuals had 60 seconds to pitch in front of a panel of judges. The event also drew participants from established businesses, research teams and even startups that were created as recently as a month ago.One group of&

Lorcan Dempsey leaves MLIS students ready to tackle tough issues

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

It is both an extraordinary and an extraordinarily difficult time to enter the library profession, says Lorcan Dempsey, an iSchool Distinguished Practitioner in Residence. Over decades, he has observed libraries shift from a transactional focus on collections to a relational and social focus on communities, with the challenges that brings.For the public library, this can mean addressing food poverty, providing services for immigrants, dealing with book bans, resolving conflicts, and engaging with local social and educational agendas, says Dempsey. For the academic library, the shift means coll

Scholars ask: How will AI shape Holocaust Memory?

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

At a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping how information is created and shared, scholars gathered recently at the University of Washington to confront a critical question: How will AI affect how the Holocaust is remembered?Led by Ben Lee, an assistant professor at the iSchool, “AI and the Future of Holocaust Research and Memory” brought together 15 scholars for two days of closed discussions, followed by a public symposium on May 20. The event explored how AI tools might shape the way Holocaust history is preserved and shared.“The goal has been trying to use this as an opportu

Convocation celebrates iSchool's largest class of graduates

Friday, June 13, 2025

More than 700 graduates crossed the stage to be recognized at the University of Washington Information School’s 2025 Convocation ceremony on June 7 at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.It was the iSchool’s largest class yet, honoring graduates of the Ph.D., Master of Library and Information Science, Master of Science in Information Management and Bachelor of Science in Informatics programs. Master of Arts in Museology students were scheduled to take part in a separate graduation celebration on June 13.Dean Anind K. Dey began the ceremony with remarks acknowledging the challen

Annual iSchool Showcase celebrates student achievements

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

The Information School gathered on June 4 to celebrate student milestones from the academic year with more than 100 projects on display at the 2025 iSchool Showcase. Students from all five iSchool degree programs had the opportunity to present their work to family, friends, colleagues, employers and industry partners in the HUB ballroom.Judge John Chun of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington gave the keynote address to mark the beginning of the Showcase. Chun commended students for their hard work, and he emphasized the importance of information in society, saying it

MSIM team helps client improve health-care data

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Effective data management can be a challenge for any organization. In the health-care industry, the complexity of the information and critical need for privacy make it even harder. A group of Master of Science in Information Management students used the skills they’ve gained at the iSchool to help a company that works with health-care providers improve its data quality. Chance Landis, Riddhi Mistry, Kayvon Tari and Tanvi Save (pictured, left to right) did the work as their Capstone project, a chance to test their skills on a real-world problem. The team worked with Qualtrics, which

Despite headwinds, Amy Ko makes impact on computing education

Monday, June 9, 2025

Amy J. Ko received her introduction to computing when she first picked up a TI-82 graphing calculator in seventh grade. The University of Washington Information School professor was taking a pre-algebra class, and her teacher made the students input formulas into the devices.“I thought that was the most boring thing in the world and I was not interested in it at all,” Ko recalls. “But, after class, one of my classmates showed me a version of Tetris that his older brother had gotten onto his TI-82. “And I was interested in Tetris.”She used a mail-order catalog to buy a cable to c