A travel grant provided by the iSchool will allow MS/LIS student Morgan Sherlock to present her research with Laurel Post (MS '19) and Affiliate Professor Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (MS '94) at the Charleston Conference without the extra financial stress. In the paper they will be presenting, "Behind the Gate: Early Career Researchers' Motivations for Using ResearchGate," the coauthors examine the motivations behind why early career researchers use the academic social network site ResearchGate and how publishers and librarians can use these findings to better understand and support their user communities.

After completing her MS/LIS degree, Lauren Camarillo would like to work in an academic library with first-year and/or first-generation students. She recently was selected to participate in the 2019-2021 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Kaleidoscope Diversity Scholars Program, which offers financial support as well as professional development opportunities. 

Cesar Ortega fell in love with libraries at the age of thirteen, when he joined the Aurora (IL) Public Library's Teen Advisory Board. The board was composed of a group of teens from around the city who created programs for the library. 

MS/LIS student Aileen Nolan discusses her summer internship with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Transportation Library.

Recent graduate Erica Zhang (MS '18) is heading to Arizona to start her new job as a junior taxonomist for Boeing. There she will work with the Information Services team to maintain metadata and controlled vocabularies to facilitate employee access to information.

Master's student Paige Dhyne likes to connect people with information. It was one of the reasons that Dhyne, who hails from Grand Rapids, Michigan, decided to study LIS after earning a dual bachelor's degree in film/video production and writing from Grand Valley State University. While initially attracted to the iSchool because of its number-one ranking, she became convinced that Illinois was the perfect fit for her after getting to know the iSchool staff, faculty, and students at a visit day last spring. 

Kameron Wells is combining his love of athletics with his interest in data analytics as a student in the iSchool's MS in information management (MS/IM) program. A Champaign native, Wells graduated in 2017 with his bachelor's degree in computer science from Knox College, where he was a four-time letterwinner and starting catcher on the school’s baseball team.

Like many others, master's student Lizzy Boden was very focused on fake news during the 2016 election. For her research proposal in IS 501, Information Organization and Access, she examined how libraries are combating fake news. She followed up with the topic in IS 590IIA, International Information Associations and Policy, and her findings are available in the ALA-ACRL online publication, "Keeping Up With… Debiasing and Fake News." According to Boden, "The more I researched, the more clear it became that fake news is actually a symptom of cognitive bias rather than a stand-alone problem. As such, tips to consider the authority of sources and even specific misinformation corrections are minimally effective as a solution. That makes the problem much harder to solve—but I think librarians are well placed to be involved in debiasing work." 

As a child, MS/LIS student and author Brittany Jacobs was banned from her local library for not returning anything on time. Now, Jacobs works in the children's department at the Naperville Public Library, writes and illustrates children's books, and helps librarians create educational programs for youth.

Last month, first-year master's student Amanda Weber presented her research at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL). During FIL's International Librarian's Colloquium, she talked about the power of bilingual children's literature and how it plays a role in identity formation and affirmation. Weber had researched and written about the topic for her undergraduate thesis at DePauw University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish. "When picture books are culturally and linguistically appropriate, accurate, and affirming, they represent children's realities and inspire them to discover, create, and celebrate their identities," she said. It was this interest in children's literacy that led her to the iSchool.

When MS/IM student Rob Callahan isn't participating in an online class, he is out flying helicopters. First Lieutenant Callahan flies H-60 Blackhawks as an aeromedical evacuation officer in the U.S. Army. 

MS student Vivian Alvarez works with tweens and teens at the Rudy Lozano Branch of the Chicago Public Library, which is located in the Mexican-American community of Pilsen. As part of her job, she develops programming for youth that nurtures learning and strengthens communities.

With a passion for making books accessible to anyone at any age, Justin Williams made it his mission to seek a career in a library that would allow him to connect with others and make an impact in their lives through the use of stories and information. Williams is set to graduate this May and has a job lined up at as a teen librarian for the White Oak Library District in Lockport, Illinois.

As a computer networks software developer, Shubhanshu Mishra realized that he was less interested in software than in understanding its users and their social interactions. This insight led him to the iSchool at Illinois, where he is learning skills in his PhD studies that will prepare him for a new career in information science.

A former speech-language pathologist with a passion for social justice, master's student Nisha Mody found her calling in the field of library and information science. While at the iSchool, Mody has served on various committees and been recognized as an American Library Association (ALA) Spectrum Scholar and as part of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce.

Kristina Williams believes deeply in the strength of character built by service to one's community and the enrichment gained through civic and neighborly engagement. It was this commitment to community involvement, which she observed in iSchool students, that first attracted her to the MS/LIS degree program.

S.K. (Kayleigh) Van Poolen is a Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) student who has advanced degrees in political science, urban planning, information sciences, and law. On November 15, Van Poolen's talk, "Started with a Hurricane Named Katrina," won third place at the 2016 Research Live! competition sponsored by the Graduate College.

An interest in medical informatics led Henry A. Gabb to pursue a doctoral degree in LIS. Gabb's research goal is to mine the vast scientific literature and genetic databases for biomarkers that predict drug efficacy.

As an undergrad Christopher Murphy first heard about the iSchool at Illinois from a librarian friend at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Now as an MS/LIS student, intellectual property researcher for John Deere, and volunteer in the community, Murphy has seen for himself how important building a professional network can be.

When iSchool master’s student Alison Rollins saw that Nerinx Hall High School had a job opening for a librarian, she jumped at the chance to work for her alma mater. She was hired in in August, bringing several years of experience in youth services for public libraries.