Alumna Melissa Cragin (PhD '09) has been named executive director of Midwest Big Data Hub (MBDH). MBDH is a network of regional institutions created to facilitate collection, management, and use of complex information, creating active partnerships of experts and resources to address issues relevant to life in the Midwest. MBDH is based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Cragin will work closely with colleagues at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Previously, Cragin was a staff associate at the National Science Foundation and research assistant professor at the iSchool from 2009 until 2011, when she received a Science & Technology Policy Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to her PhD from the iSchool, Cragin earned a MLIS from Rutgers University and M.Ed. from Rhode Island College.