Several iSchool researchers will be playing an active role in projects that recently received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

MSLIS student Andrea Serna has been selected to participate in the 2023-2025 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Kaleidoscope Diversity Scholars Program. The Kaleidoscope Program offers financial support to scholars as well as leadership development through the ARL Annual Leadership Symposium, a formal mentoring program, career placement assistance, and a site visit to an ARL member library.

Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo has been awarded a $649,921 Early Career Development grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which supports "developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public by enhancing the training and professional development of librarians, developing faculty and library leaders, and recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians."

Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hoiem, Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo, and Associate Professor Jodi Schneider are among the twenty faculty from the University of Illinois System who were selected for the 2023-2024 cohort of the Public Voices Fellowship.

Associate Professors Yang Wang and Yun Huang are spearheading a project in collaboration with experts from the University of California-Berkeley and Stanford University to help ensure emerging artificial intelligence (AI) development proceeds in a democratic manner that is mindful of underserved groups. Informatics PhD student Tanusree Sharma is also leading this initiative as a critical component of her dissertation work.

The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois has selected Associate Professors Halil Kilicoglu and Jodi Schneider for its new Emerging Research Leaders Academy. IHSI received over 50 nominations from department heads and directors associated with more than 35 units across campus. From those nominations, Kilicoglu and Schneider were among the fifteen participants chosen for the inaugural cohort.

PhD student Courtney Richardson has been selected as the winner of the 2023 Litwin Books Award for Ongoing Dissertation Research in the Philosophy of Information. The award, which consists of $1,000 and a certificate, is given annually to a graduate student who is working on a dissertation on the philosophy of information, broadly construed.

Seventeen iSchool master's students have been named 2023-2024 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. Since 1997, the Spectrum Scholarship Program has promoted diversity among graduate-level students pursuing degrees in library and information studies through ALA-accredited programs.

Associate Professor Maria Bonn, Senior Data and Policy Analyst Ben Schaap, and Teaching Assistant Professor Sharon Comstock have received a Provost's Initiative on Teaching Advancement (PITA) grant, worth $7,500, for their proposal, "Standardizing MSLIS Experiential Learning Opportunities." PITA grants support the implementation of teaching innovations and enhancements at the University of Illinois.

Sara L. Schwebel, professor and director of the Center for Children's Books, gave the opening keynote for the 26th biennial International Research Society for Children's Literature (IRSCL) 2023 Congress, which was held from August 12-16 in Santa Barbara, California. The theme of this year's conference, which attracted attendees from over thirty countries and six continents, was "Ecologies of Childhood: Children's Literature, Culture, and the Environment."