The University of Illinois has long been a leader in accessibility for persons with disabilities. This tradition continues with a new web app called "Access Illinois" created by MS student Mark McCarthy and his team members Matt Arensdorf (undergraduate student, computer science) and Emily Chen (PhD student, computational linguistics). The app earned the team first place in HackCulture.

Thirty minority students were recruited in the early 1970s to attend the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences (now the School of Information Sciences) at the University of Illinois. Called the Carnegie Scholars, all but one of the black and Latino students graduated, and they went on to successful careers in and out of the library profession.

The App Authors project has been underway for over a year now, bringing kids and technology together to create apps through a child-centered curriculum at Kenwood Elementary and the Douglass Branch of the Champaign Public Library. The program, developed by the iSchool's Center for Children's Books (CCB), provides kids with varying levels of experience the opportunity to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 

Daniel S. Katz, iSchool affiliated faculty member and assistant director for scientific software and applications at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), is coleading a group that is working to encourage broad adoption of a consistent policy for software citation across disciplines. 

Doctoral candidate Andrea K. Thomer successfully defended her dissertation, "Site-Based Data Curation: Bridging Data Collection Protocols and Curatorial Processes at Scientifically Significant Sites," on May 8.

The iSchool Scholars-in-Residence program allows international researchers the opportunity to work with faculty and students on specific research projects, offer guest lectures, and participate in research activities at the iSchool and University of Illinois. Current scholars-in-residence include Ya Gao, Chul Wan Kwak, Han (Hannah) Liu, Jing Yuan, Xi Zhang, and Yigang Zhou.

Doctoral candidate Cheryl Thompson successfully defended her dissertation, "Data Expertise and Service Development in Geoscience Data Centers and Academic Libraries," on May 8.

Professor Emeritus Chip Bruce will return to the iSchool this summer to teach Inquiry-based Learning (LIS 590IBL). In this online course, students will examine the nature of inquiry and inquiry-based learning, engage in inquiry-based learning, and consider obstacles to learning, including those related to management, assessment, basic skills, cultural differences, and pedagogical goals.

Alumna Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson (MS '78) will deliver the 2017 iSchool Convocation address. The event will be held on Sunday, May 14, at 9:30 a.m. For those who would like to watch the ceremony online, live video will be available as well as archived for future viewing.

iSchool faculty and students will participate in the University of Illinois Social Media Analytics Summit, which will be held on Tuesday, May 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The event will take place at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) auditorium.