Precious Olalere, a doctoral student in information sciences, has been awarded the 2025 Helen Knoll Jira Scholarship from the Health Science Librarians of Illinois (HSLI). This award supports individuals pursuing education in library or information science in Illinois, especially those focusing on health science librarianship.
BSIS student Daria Meshcheriakova came to the iSchool with intention. Originally from Russia, where she lived for 17 years, Meshcheriakova moved to Chicago and attended Harold Washington Community College before transferring to the University of Illinois. Among potential universities, Illinois proved to be the best fit.
School faculty, staff, and students will present their research at the 2025 Illinois Library Association (ILA) Annual Conference, which will be held on October 14–16 in Rosemont. The theme of this year's conference is "You Belong Here."
Jade Carthans is interested in how human-centered design, machine learning, and data analytics can come together to solve critical problems that impact organizations and individuals. She gained firsthand experience in these areas through internships with Microsoft and State Farm.
BSIS student Lauren Ravury has a new item to add to her resume: member of the 2025 Homecoming Court at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ravury's resume is already impressive. She serves as president of the Student Alumni Ambassadors (SAA), an organization dedicated to fostering school spirit at the U. of I. Last year, she served as president of the Asian Pre-Law Association, a stint that led to her receiving the Outstanding Asian & Asian American Undergraduate Student Leader Award from the Asian American Cultural Center and the association being named the 2025 Outstanding Asian & Asian American Student Organization.
As a member of the Illini 4000, BSIS student Riddhima Patllollu biked from New York City to San Francisco to raise awareness of cancer and raise funds for cancer research. Patllollu, a junior from New Jersey, decided to join the nonprofit organization in her freshman year to expand her worldview and mark a new chapter in her life.
iSchool faculty, staff, and students will participate in the Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC 2025), which will be held from September 18–20 in Washington, DC.
Simit Shah worked as a consultant for Deloitte in India before enrolling in the MSIM program to strengthen his analytical and business skills. Over the summer, he applied the knowledge gained from his iSchool coursework during an internship as a technology risk consultant at EY.
MSLIS student Nathaniel Allen (Nat) Pila has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Ruth Fine Memorial Student Loan, awarded annually by the District of Columbia Library Association (DCLA). The award will support Pila as he begins his studies in the iSchool at the University of Illinois.
PhD student Owen Monroe reflects on his internship with the National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities, held from May to December 2024. Last month, the NEH programs officer Monroe worked with during his internship discussed some of their work at the Digital Humanities conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
