MS students Katherine Howell and Randi Proescholdt and recent graduate Patty Templeton (MS '20) are spending this summer as Library of Congress Junior Fellows. This competitive internship program, which is being held remotely for the first time, provides students with the opportunity to explore digital initiatives and increase access to the institution’s collections while working under the direction of library curators and specialists in various divisions.

Alaine Martaus (PhD '19) joined the iSchool on March 16 as research development coordinator. Prior to her appointment, she served as a postdoctoral researcher with the iSchool's Research Services. In her new role, Martaus supports faculty during different stages of the research process, helps identify funding sources and pair researchers with specific solicitations, monitors compliance with different research protocols, and provides support to facilitate publications and publicity.

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many public health organizations have found themselves overwhelmed by the need to make fast, data-focused operation decisions, but often they do not have enough staff with the necessary data science skills. The University of Illinois, meanwhile, has a diverse student population with strong technical skills and professional expertise who would like to help combat the pandemic but do not know how to get involved.

Affiliate Professor Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, professor and coordinator for information literacy services and instruction in the University Library,  and Kyle Jones, assistant professor in the School of Informatics and Computing at the Indiana University-Indianapolis, have received the ALISE Best Conference Paper Award for "New Methods, New Needs: Preparing Academic Library Practitioners to Address Ethical Issues Associated with Learning Analytics."

The use of data science tools in research across campuses has exploded–from engineering and science to the humanities and social sciences. But there is no established data science discipline and no recognized way for various academic fields to develop and integrate accepted data science processes into research. Associate Professor Victoria Stodden has proposed a framework for guiding researchers and curriculum development in data science and for aiding policy and funding decisions. She outlines the approach in the journal Communications of the ACM.

MS student Madina Grace is the recipient of a Fritz Schwartz Education Scholarship from NASIG, an independent organization working to advance and transform the management of information resources. The award provides enhanced educational opportunities to an aspiring library student who has prior experience with managing information resources.

MS/IM student Adarsh Agarwal discusses his summer internship at Amazon.

Teaching Associate Professor and Acting BS/IS Program Director Judith Pintar has been selected by the Office of the Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs as the University of Illinois Distinguished Teacher-Scholar for the 2020-2021 academic year. The program offers faculty members an opportunity to engage in an in-depth analysis of the craft and art of teaching, consider new approaches, and put their insights to work in ways that will benefit their students and the campus community. Pintar will receive $7,500 for her project and an additional $7,500 for a research assistant.

Doctoral candidate Craig Willis successfully defended his dissertation, "Trust, But Verify: An Investigation of Methods of Verification and Dissemination of Computational Research Artifacts for Transparency and Reproducibility," on June 16.

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Madelyn Sanfilippo will join the faculty as an assistant professor in August 2020. She is currently a postdoctoral IT policy researcher at the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University.