Impact awards honor 2 alumni working on frontiers of AI

Monday, May 11, 2026

The 2026 UW Information School Alumni Impact Awards honor a startup entrepreneur and an expert in value-sensitive design, both working at the forefront of the AI revolution.Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Prem Kumar, Informatics ’06, is the CEO of Humanly, a startup he founded in 2020. Humanly is a job candidate recruitment platform that uses artificial intelligence to automate candidate evaluation for employers, as well as to aid job seekers in their job search and career development. Humanly has grown rapidly in the past few years, serving more than 200 companies and raising $48

Museum visitors see impact of Museology students' theses

Monday, May 11, 2026

The Seattle Children’s Museum’s beloved Mountain exhibit is getting an update, thanks to a Museology thesis project. During the final quarter of the UW Information School’s Museology program, students complete their theses. In the form of research or a project, completed theses show future employers students' successes, interests and experiences in real museums. Zoe Velie, Brittany Matthews and Betty Mfalingundi's (pictured at top, from left) project is sponsored by the Children’s Museum. Through the update, the three students are prioritizing a focus on local representa

Ph.D. candidate leads research combating 'tilt' in esports

Monday, May 11, 2026

Sitting side-by-side or across the world from their teammates, esports players in competitive video gaming train intensively to win. Games like League of Legends, Dota and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are popular worldwide and can draw multimillion-dollar prize pools. The camaraderie and thrill of the games keep players returning, but gaming can also affect their health and well-being.To better understand how teens conceptualize a “healthy player” and sustain mental well-being in gaming, University of Washington Information School Ph.D. candidate Johnny (Yeonhee) Cho has been work

People analytics expert: Data reveals workforce's secrets

Thursday, May 7, 2026

The challenge for many companies these days isn’t simply finding talented employees; it’s retaining them. High compensation? Remote working opportunities? These perks don’t always keep workers around. But the field of people analytics can provide managers with the tools they need to better understand their hiring practices and workforce. And few people understand the subject better than Heather Whiteman, an associate teaching professor for the University of Washington Information School. “Many people have never heard of people analytics outside of human resources,” sai

Data science career outlook: Problem-solvers in demand

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

As a senior principal data scientist at Navy Federal Credit Union, Rahul Zende uses the predictive power of data to build solutions that enable better organizational decision-making and deliver improved service to members. “As much as we can anticipate our members’ needs ahead of time, that is for the better,” Zende said. For example, he builds predictive models to anticipate when members might be in the market for a car loan. Knowing that helps the nonprofit credit union reach out with strategies to help those with lower credit scores boost their chances of qualifying.“Then

Leadership brings out the best in MSIM student

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Early in her career, Elisheba Choppala worked as an intern for a consumer-packaged goods company. She worked on data analysis, and that experience made it clear how much businesses rely on clear information. The internship became a permanent position, and Choppala used data analytics to support the company for several more years. When Choppala was ready to continue her education, she was also looking for a change. Originally from Abu Dhabi, she’d been in the Midwest for eight years. She was ready to live somewhere new and, as she looked into her options, everything kept pointing toward

6 Information School students honored in 2026 Husky 100

Monday, April 20, 2026

The University of Washington honored six students from the Information School in the 2026 Husky 100. Awarded to graduate and undergraduate students making the most out of their time at the UW, the Husky 100 is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The Information School honorees consist of four Informatics students and two Ph.D. students. The recognition grants these students opportunities to expand their networks among the UW community, academically and professionally. Charles Bugre is a Ph.D. candidate researching the use of mobile technology in illiterate populations. I

Informatics student blends history, technology and service

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Growing up in a small town in Central Washington, Diego Licea aspired to attend college and set his sights on the University of Washington.“I'd heard it was a challenging school to get into,” he said. “If it wasn't UW, I felt like maybe I had sold myself short. So I applied during my senior year, and I was able to get in.”Now as a junior in the Informatics program, Licea continues to make his mark on the Information School community.After completing the Running Start program in high school, he originally planned to major in history, but once he got to campus, he took some time to

Professor's work helps to advance Indigenous librarianship

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Indigenous data has a history of bad management from non-Natives, says UW Information School Assistant Professor Sandy Littletree (Eastern Shoshone/Navajo). Library collections may include sacred songs, ceremonies and stories that were gathered without consent and never meant to be shared. Archival information on tribal cultures is often misleading, inauthentic, disrespectful. Even Western cataloguing systems may be biased, says Littletree, who works with the Library of Congress updating such subject headlines as “Indian Influences on Art.”The label suggests Native Americans are mere side

AI for Organizations certificate to launch in autumn

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

The University of Washington Information School is introducing a new graduate certificate geared toward professionals in organizations that are responding to the opportunities and challenges represented by artificial intelligence. The new Graduate Certificate in AI for Organizations program is anticipated to begin accepting applications in June for online courses beginning this autumn. The proposal has been submitted to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities for review.This new offering was inspired by significant demand from professionals and employers voicing the nee

MisinfoDay brings Washington educators to UW

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Approximately 120 teachers, librarians and educators from across Washington gathered at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus on March 17 for a day of learning activities and professional development organized by the Center for an Informed Public and designed to help educators find ways to improve the way they teach information literacy skills in their communities.MisinfoDay utilized a dual approach in 2026. Instead of only hosting high school students on campus for a day of learning, the CIP assembled educators from across Washington for a day of professional development workshops,

MLIS is former journalist's path to a fresh start

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Master of Library and Information Science student Jennifer Sheffield grew up in libraries. Carrying home armfuls of books, she described herself as a “voracious reader.” She loved that libraries provided a community where learning is encouraged and curiosity is promoted. Along with easy access to libraries, an accelerated learning program helped Sheffield build a sound literary background, but she recognized that she was getting opportunities that her peers were not.“I think that was my first subconscious understanding of privilege,” she said. As an online MLIS student at the

Luminaries convene at UW to envision Black Information Futures

Monday, March 9, 2026

“The ability to remember is a form of power.”This quote by author and theorist bell hooks was emblazoned across cards given to everyone who attended February’s Black Information Futures Symposium. It was a reminder that the work of collecting, preserving and envisioning information has power that reverberates beyond the halls of academia, beyond even a lifetime.Tracie D. Hall convened the Symposium as part of her Distinguished Practitioner in Residence role at the University of Washington Information School. Invoking the work of hooks, Seattle author Octavia Butler, and Black librar

In return, Research Fair is bigger and livelier than ever

Friday, March 6, 2026

Curiosity, conversation and connection took center stage as the Information School celebrated the work of its research community. On the evening of March 5, the HUB Ballroom echoed with lively discussion as researchers gathered for the return of the Information School Research Fair as an in-person event for the first time since 2019. Organized by Professor and Associate Dean for Research Jevin West, the event marked a significant moment for the Information School to return after seven years.“Research is an endeavor that requires interaction, and we just need to be doing that m

Professor advocates for intellectual property rights in world of AI

Friday, March 6, 2026

Although artificial intelligence models can efficiently produce content, they are trained to scrape pre-existing works without direct attribution. As AI becomes more advanced, concerns about the protection of creator ownership continue to grow.With these violations of individual ownership in mind, iSchool Professor Adam Moore discusses the importance of intellectual property in his new book, “Intellectual Property: Moral and Legal Foundations.”“With all the bells and whistles, along with the more complicated systems to come, AI is not intelligent,” Moore writes. “These systems d