A team composed of two iSchool PhD students, Ly Dinh and Jessica Cheng, and a PhD student from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Li-Min (Cassandra) Huang, won the ASIS&T 2018 Student Design Competition. The competition was held on November 13 during the ASIS&T Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

Doctoral student Shubhanshu Mishra won the Best Student Paper Award at the Workshop on Informetric and Scientometric Research (SIG/MET), which was held on November 10 in conjunction with the ASIS&T 2018 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Sponsored by Elsevier, the award recognizes achievement in student presentation in the following criteria: design of the study, originality, relevance to the workshop, and adherence to research ethics. 

As the graduate assistant for the iSchool's Office of Advancement, Joanna Pike has learned technical skills, such as finding her way around the University's complex alumni database, but perhaps more importantly, she has gained a new perspective on the importance of giving.

iSchool faculty, staff, and students will participate in the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, which will be held November 10-14 in Vancouver, Canada. The theme of this year's conference is "Building and Sustaining an Ethical Future with Emerging Technology." The meeting, now in its 81st year, is the premier international conference dedicated to the study of information, people, and technology in contemporary society.

PhD students Michael Gryk and Noah Samuel will present their research at the 14th International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM), which will be held November 9-10 in Vancouver, Canada, in conjunction with the ASIS&T Annual Meeting. ICKM brings together academics, researchers, developers, and other information professionals for discussions on the theoretical and practical aspects of information and knowledge management. 

When Julia Hart, site leader for the COUNTRY Financial DigitaLab, is in need of interns, she looks to the iSchool for student talent. Hart's first hire for the DigitaLab, which was launched at the University of Illinois Research Park in October 2017, was MS/IM student Anmol Gandhi. Gandhi still works at the lab as a data analyst, along with fellow MS/IM student Tanvi Malhotra. The students' job duties include predictive modeling, machine learning, text mining, and data visualizations as well as data modeling and research.

MS/IM student Seung Jun discusses his practicum experience at the AbbVie Innovation Center.

The iSchool launched a new apprenticeship program this fall with The Urbana Free Library. The program, which is modeled after an internship partnership between the Dominican University School of Information Studies and Skokie Public Library, will provide students with practical experience and additional exposure to all facets of library operations.

CAS student Stephanie Shallcross (MS '18) presented her work on teaching digital literacy to youth at the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) annual conference, held October 24-28 in Prato, Italy. This year's conference addressed research, practice, and creative endeavors focused on shaping and influencing policy and programs.

iSchool students interested in crafting and socializing with their fellow students should check out the Stitch & Bitch student group. Despite the group's name, a knitting background is not necessary, and all students are welcome regardless of their level of crafting experience.