Zifan Zhao, who is pursuing dual degrees in information sciences + data science and psychology with a concentration in cognitive neuroscience, has been selected as a 2024 Beckman Institute Undergraduate Fellow. The program provides undergraduate students with a $3,000 award to pursue interdisciplinary research at the Beckman Institute during the summer. 

PhD student Abhinav Choudhry has received a 2024-2026 Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue research award for his project, "Gamified Finance Simulator for Older Adults: A Financial Literacy and Vulnerability Intervention." The $4,000 award is intended for research that enables people to navigate and contribute to today's information environment. Associate Professor Rachel Adler and PhD student Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou will serve as co-principal investigators on the project, which aims to create a gamified simulation of digital banking. 

Alexis Miller joined the iSchool on June 4 as an office manager. In this position, she will provide support to the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and assist with various student affairs activities.

Hiromi Morikawa (CAS '12), executive officer and chief information officer at Nishimoto Co., Ltd., enjoys helping her teams grow and succeed. She was recently named a 2024 Consumer Goods Technology Visionary, which recognizes a select cohort of consumer goods executives who embody positive change in their organizations and inspire through their leadership.

Doctoral candidate Qingxiao Zheng successfully defended her dissertation, "Shifting Paradigms in the UX Evaluation of Human-AI Interaction: From Dyadic to Monadic Designs," on May 27.

A collaborative project of the iSchool's Center for Children's Books (CCB) and the National Park Service (NPS) has been honored by the Organization of American Historians. The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, which features the Books to Parks website, received the Stanton-Horton Award, which recognizes "excellence in National Park Service historical efforts that make the NPS a leader in promoting public understanding of and engagement with American history."

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 71 (4), edited by Lian J. Ruan and Shengping Xia. "Cultural Heritage and Digital Scholarship in China: Part II," explores the rich, diverse, and long history of China's cultural heritage and the innovative digital scholarship that is currently being utilized to study it. 

iSchool faculty are presenting their research at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), which will be held from May 29-31 in Boston. The theme of this year's conference is "Inflection Point: Setting the Course for the Future of Scholarly Communication."

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. For more information about each award, including past recipients, visit the Student Awards page.

The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI), in partnership with the Center for Social and Behavioral Science and with support from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, has selected BSIS students Sophie Chiewtrakoon and Madisen LeShoure as 2024 Community-Academic Scholars. The 17 scholars in this cohort represent seven colleges and schools and encompass a diverse array of fields of study, from community health to education to industrial design.