Professor and Dean Eunice E. Santos was named a 2024 Women's History Month Honoree by the Illinois Office of Comptroller. She was recognized at a ceremony hosted by Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza on March 21 in Springfield. At the Women's History Month celebration, Santos and three other women trailblazers were honored for their achievements and contributions to the community.
In presenting the award, the Comptroller said of Santos, "Under her leadership, the iSchool has seen unprecedented growth in student enrollment attracted by new and innovative degree programs and an expansion of diverse and pioneering scholarship and research opportunities."
Santos is an accomplished scholar and researcher whose expertise includes computational social science with an appreciation for the social and human aspects of the information sciences. Her recent research focuses on using computationally intensive methods to understand the behavior of social networks and communities.
She has received numerous awards, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching, IEEE-CS Technical Achievement Award, Robinson Faculty Award, and IEEE Big Data Security Woman of Achievement Award. She is among the Chicago leaders who have been named to Crain's Tech 50, recognized in both 2016 and 2018. Santos is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
In receiving the honor, Santos emphasized the role of higher education to create opportunities for students and the fundamental role of the iSchool to develop thought leaders who can critically address future societal issues.
Santos serves on the board of directors of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Computing Research Association. She earned her PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.