Each year, the School of Information Sciences recognizes a group of outstanding students for their achievement in academics as well as a number of attributes that contribute to professional success. Congratulations to this year's honorees!

Associate Professor Jodi Schneider has been named a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world's largest educational and scientific computing society. Senior Member status is bestowed on ACM members with at least ten years of professional experience and five years of professional membership who have demonstrated performance through technical leadership and technical or professional contributions. Schneider is one of 35 new Senior Members this quarter.

Associate Professor Jingrui He is developing computational tools to protect against leaks and/or unauthorized use of sensitive data held and distributed among Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies and other parties. Her project, "Privacy-Preserving Analytics for Non-IID Data," has been awarded a three-year, $651,927 grant from the DHS Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency (CAOE).

The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) is pleased to announce that Elizabeth Ayorinde and Victor Lopez are the recipients of the Building Diversity Graduate Assistantships for the 2023-2024 academic year. The assistantships will provide experience, mentoring, and networking to participants with the goal of increasing the number of staff members from underrepresented groups at Illinois' two and four-year public and private college and university libraries.

iSchool undergraduates have the opportunity to explore various career pathways and meet potential employers through a unique course, IS 200 CE: Career Exploration and Development (formerly IS 199 EE: iSchool Explore, Engage, Develop). This one-credit course focuses on professional development and career exploration by connecting students with industry representatives, alumni, current students, faculty, and staff. It provides an opportunity for students to build a professional network and teaches them the skills to do so through course assignments, informal interview and career fair presentations, and other professional workshops.

Last month, Leep student Hui Liu was selected as the winner of the iSchool's t-shirt design contest. Her design was based on the prompt, "The Power of Information," which is also the School's tagline. Participants were asked to submit designs that illustrated the tagline from a student perspective.

Thirteen iSchool master's students were named 2022-2023 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. Daynali Flores-Rodriguez holds an MA and PhD in comparative and world literature from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and BA in comparative literature from the University of Puerto Rico.

Associate Professor Dong Wang was recently named a Senior Member of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The organization is the world's largest technical professional society and serves professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic, and computing fields and the related areas of science and technology.

For their tireless efforts to support academic freedom, New College of Florida faculty, librarians, student reporters of The Catalyst, and the Defend New College and Save New College student and alumni organizations have collectively been named the 2022 recipient of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award. The award is given annually by the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and cosponsored by Sage, a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources.

Xochitl Quiroz decided to pursue an MSLIS degree because she wanted to help college students develop information literacy as well as assist students and faculty with their reference needs. As she crosses the stage at the upcoming iSchool convocation, Quiroz will have the satisfaction of knowing that she is on her way to meeting her goal. This summer, she will begin her new job as a humanities and first years' engagement librarian at Smith College.