$1.5 million grant supports Indigenous data stewardship

Monday, November 3, 2025

Responsibly managing Indigenous research data takes a great deal of care and intention, especially given a long history of harmful practices. A research team at the Information School is charting a path forward that respects Indigenous people’s sovereignty over their data. The project, called Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship and Sovereignty, is helping information professionals gain a better understanding of data sovereignty and working with data repositories to ensure that Indigenous groups control representation, access and ownership of culturally sensitive data.With support f

Informatics alum Lauren Appelbaum's novels inspired by tech

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Lauren Appelbaum worked in tech for a decade after earning her Informatics degree. Then her career took a plot twist.Now a full-time author, Appelbaum, ’13, recently released her second novel, “An Introvert’s Guide to Life and Love.” The book’s protagonist is a remote worker who rarely leaves her apartment until her grandmother dies and she inherits a house in Florida, a chain of events that turns her life upside down.Appelbaum, who lives in Seattle, worked in customer support and as a technical writer and editor, all while devoting her downtime to writing. She landed a publisher for

Author Cynthia Leitich Smith charms crowd at Shaw Lecture

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Asked what she would say to encourage young writers, author Cynthia Leitich Smith made an analogy. “When you're thinking about a story, particularly within books for young readers, but a story in general, I think it's helpful to think about a tree trunk and all the tree rings,” she said. “A particular protagonist may be specifically reflected by a child at the center [of the tree trunk] but all children are in the circle of story, and in that, they support each other in continued growth.”Smith reflected on her experiences as a young-adult and children’s book author at the I

RAISE expo highlights students' solutions to AI problems

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Five Information School students were among dozens who shared insights from their research at the RAISE research center’s recent Fall Exposition in downtown Seattle. RAISE, the Center for Responsibility in AI Systems and Experiences, aims to advance artificial intelligence that serves the public good, emphasizing the importance of creating responsible and trustworthy AI. Hosted on the Amazon campus on Oct. 3, the exposition began with keynote speeches from Jeetu Mirchandani, director of Applied AI at Amazon, and Anat Caspi, principal scientist at the Paul G. Allen School

Canopy Foundation makes $15M grant to establish UW Neurodiversity and Employment Institute

Monday, October 20, 2025

The Canopy Neurodiversity Foundation awarded a $15 million grant to the University of Washington Information School to support the launch of the UW Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment. The new institute will bring together leading scholars and practitioners from various disciplines alongside employers to build the capacity of the UW, Washington state and the nation to create meaningful employment opportunities and career experiences for neurodivergent people.Neurodivergent adults, such as those on the autism spectrum, or with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, d

25 years in, Information School is more essential than ever

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Twenty-five years ago, there were no smartphones or social media. Most of us had dial-up internet. We went to Blockbuster when we wanted to rent movies and read newspapers when we wanted to stay informed. Artificial intelligence was the stuff of science-fiction movies. But the internet was evolving rapidly and changing how people interacted with information. Librarianship skills — categorizing, collecting, accessing and drawing value from information — were becoming increasingly powerful.The University of Washington and the leaders of its Graduate School of Library and Information Scienc

Cynthia Leitich Smith to share insights on Indigenous stories

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Children's and young adult book author Cynthia Leitich Smith writes stories that center Indigenous youth as heroes. Her storytelling draws inspiration from moments and experiences she’s had in her own life.“I didn't really think of it as writing stories about Native characters. I thought of it more like I was drawing inspiration from moments of childhood or questions that I had growing up,” she said.The New York Times bestselling author and proud citizen of the Muscogee (Mvskoke) Nation, who will present the Information School’s Spencer G. Shaw Lecture on Oct. 16, has become a powerful

A simple intervention significantly improved patent outcomes for women inventors

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

While innovation is core to American identity, women inventors were named on only 13% of 2019 U.S. patents. In part, that’s because women’s patents are less likely to make it through the examination process. Research by the University of Washington Information School and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, found that some simple interventions increased the probability that female inventors would get patents by 12%. For first-time applicants, that probability increased to 17%. The study, the first randomized controlled trial of inventors at the USPTO, followed inve

'Bears will be boys,' but why? Professor investigates

Monday, September 29, 2025

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog” are just a few of the iconic picture books that have shaped childhoods for generations. The stories found in these pages teach their readers valuable lessons and play a critical role during early childhood development.According to the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, children need books to develop critical thinking skills, connect with characters and better understand themselves and the world around them. But digital humanities expert Melanie Walsh wanted to

As a researcher and teacher, Ricardo Gomez always put people first

Thursday, September 25, 2025

Teaching rooted in real-world experience has always been a core value for researcher and professor Ricardo Gomez. Now having retired after 18 years at the Information School, Gomez has left a lasting impact both in the classroom and in the communities he works with around the world. Gomez joined the school in 2008, and taught several courses across Informatics, Master of Library and Information Science, Master of Science in Information Management and Ph.D programs. One of his most notable courses was LIS 570: Research Methods, which he taught every year while at the iSchool.Prior to joini

Project to help information workers navigate new threats

Thursday, September 18, 2025

A recent study named the jobs most at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence. The list includes journalists, news analysts, proofreaders and technical writers — all workers who verify and communicate accurate information to the public.Tanu Mitra, an associate professor at the University of Washington Information School, calls these and other individuals “information integrity workers.” She recently was awarded a $649,971 grant from the National Science Foundation to study how large language models will affect these information workers.The Faculty Early Career Develop

MSIM's first online AI elective launches this fall

Friday, September 5, 2025

The Information School is expanding its course offerings specific to artificial intelligence. This fall, online students enrolled in the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) program are able to take a new elective, Foundations of Artificial Intelligence.The Foundations of Artificial Intelligence class was developed by Professor Chirag Shah, co-founding director of the UW Center for Responsibility in AI Systems and Experiences (RAISE). From prompt engineering to large language models, the class equips students with a comprehensive understanding of the technical underpinnings and c

Students, faculty collaborate and bond at summer institute

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Melanie Walsh is always looking for ways to expand on research and develop stronger connections with students. “Students often approach me and want to see if they can get involved with my research,” Walsh said. “I really want to work with undergraduate students, but I often don't have time or I don't have money to support them.”The Humanities Data Science Summer Institute (HDSSI) gives Walsh and other faculty an opportunity to work with more students, diving further into their research and developing meaningful relationships. The five-week program, which takes place in June a

Leadership summit trains Indigenous youth in water resource advocacy

Thursday, August 28, 2025

Tribal youth leaders from across the Northwest gathered at the University of Washington on Aug. 14 to learn how to advocate for their communities’ water resources.The iSchool’s Clarita Lefthand-Begay, Diné, hosted the Tribal Youth Water Summit. Themed “Sustaining Waters, Sustaining Knowledge–Tribal Water Security in a Data-Driven Future,” the daylong event featured conversations that elevated Indigenous youth voices and focused on how Indigenous knowledge and technology can support tribal water resources. It was organized in partnership with Changing Current and was part of a weeklo

Pelle Tracey brings expertise on housing, homelessness to faculty

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Pelle Tracey is passionate about housing justice. “Housing is where the personal and political meet in an intimate way,” says the new Information School assistant professor, whose research examines how data-driven record-keeping tools used to allocate rare housing resources often miss the messy realities of homelessness.The tools’ algorithmic prioritization processes quantify each unhoused individual’s level of vulnerability. Scores can determine who gets shelter and who gets left out in the cold. “These tools struggle to capture the nuances of homelessness, leaving highly vulnerable