In the Media
2025
"Character.AI to Bar Children under 18 from Using Its Chatbots" features Professor Yang Wang's research, The New York Times (October 29, 2025)
"What the Industrial Revolution Shows Us about Today’s Transgender Pushback" by Assistant Professor Travis Wagner, The Hill (October 23, 2025).
"Are Research and Education Networks Critical Infrastructure" by Director of Research and Technology Innovation and Research Scientist Anita Nikolich, Internet Society Pulse (October 23, 2025).
"Blockchain Legislation Needs Clarity and Cooperation" by Teaching Assistant Professor Adam Rusch, The News-Gazette (October 21, 2025).
"Immigrant Surveillance Machine: A Replay of Eugenic Technologies for Authoritarian Conditioning" by Professor Anita Say Chan, ReVista, Harvard Review of Latin America (October 10, 2025).
"DHS's Immigrant Tracking Tech Lays the Ground for Authoritarian Surveillance" by Professor Anita Say Chan, The Public Eye (October 10, 2025).
"Book Banning Paradox: Removing Them Highlights Their Value" by Associate Professor Maria Bonn and Assistant Professor Travis Wagner, The Opinion Pages (October 8, 2025).
"Why Kids Need Banned Books," features Professor Emily Knox, Raising Us: A Parenting Podcast (October 7, 2025)
"I Am Normal. I Am Disabled. Aren’t We All?" by Associate Professor Maria Bonn, Visible Magazine (October 7, 2025).
"Why Trump’s Sweeping Visa Restrictions Will Backfire" by Assistant Professor Meicen Sun, The Hill (September 25, 2025).
"AI Models Are Using Material from Retracted Scientific Papers" doctoral candidate Yuanxi Fu quoted in MIT Technology Review (September 23, 2025).
"My Turn | Libraries A Place Where Intellectual Freedom Reigns" by Associate Professor Maria Bonn, The News-Gazette (September 23, 2025).
"When Algorithms Amplify Division: Lessons from Charlie Kirk's Death" Teaching Assistant Professor Haileleol Tibebu, Tech Policy Press (September 18, 2025).
"The future of AI | Seeing stars, spreading misinformation, surveilling employees and more" features Professor J. Stephen Downie and Affiliate Professor Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, The News-Gazette (July 19, 2025).
Nature Magazine recommends Predatory Data by Professor Anita Chan for Summer 2025 reading (July 14, 2025).
"The future of AI | Filmmaking, farming, finding a job and more" features Associate Professor Anita Say Chan and HTRC Associate Director for Research Support Services Glen Layne-Worthey, The News-Gazette (July 12, 2025).
"Researchers Jailbreak AI by Flooding It With Bullshit Jargon," features research by Assistant Professor Haohan Wang and PhD student Haibo Jin, 404 Media (July 8, 2025).
"The future of AI | Self-driving cars, mechanical weeding, health care assistants and more" features Assistant Professor Yue Guo, Professor Ted Underwood, and Assistant Professor Meicen Sun, The News-Gazette (July 5, 2025).
"The future of AI | In the home, on the battlefield, in space, sports and beyond" features Associate Professor Yun Huang, Associate Professor Dong Wang, Research Scientist Anita Nikolich, and MSLIS student Mary Ton, The News-Gazette (July 1, 2025).
"Rural Library Funding Threats" features Associate Professor Kate McDowell, NPR's All Things Considered (May 25, 2025).
"Why Accessibility on Campuses Matters More Than Ever," by Associate Professor Rachel Adler, Visible (May 16, 2025).
"Hands-On Intelligence: A Priority for Education and Tech Policies," by Associate Professor Kyungwon Koh, Tech Policy Press (May 7, 2025).
"The Federal Library Department Has Put Almost All of Its Staff on Leave. What Does That Mean for Your Town’s Library?" features Associate Professor Kate McDowell, IPM News (April 28, 2025)
"Libraries and Museums Make America Great," by Assistant Professor Madelyn Sanfilippo, The Fulcrum (April 21, 2025).
"We Need To Ensure Federal Protections for the Disabled," by Associate Professor Rachel Adler, The Opinion Pages (March 14, 2025).
"The Clock Is Ticking on the TikTok Ban — Will the US Champion Freedom or Protectionism?," by Assistant Professor Meicen Sun, The Hill (March 11, 2025).
"Moving Fast and Breaking Things Doesn’t Work in Government," by Assistant Professor Melissa Ocepek and Assistant Professor Madelyn Sanfilippo, The Hill (February 25, 2025).
"New AI Program to Help Designate Emergency and Non-Emergency Dispatch" features Assistant Professor Yun Huang and Informatics PhD student Yiren Liu, WAND News, (February 24, 2025).
Associate Professor Jodi Schneider is quoted in "Exclusive: These Universities Have the Most Retracted Scientific Articles," Nature (February 19, 2025).
"New Tech Aims to Streamline Crime Reporting; Developed by U of I Team" features Associate Professor Yun Huang's SafeRBot project, WCIA, (February 13, 2025).
PhD student Yaman Yu is quoted in "Character.AI Put in New Underage Guardrails After a Teen's Suicide. His Mother Says That's Not Enough," Business Insider (January 9, 2025).
Associate Professor Jodi Schneider is quoted in "WithdrarXiv Database of 14,000 Retracted Preprints Launches" Nature (January 6, 2025).
"Eugenics Isn’t Dead—It’s Thriving in Tech," features Predatory Data by Associate Professor Anita Say Chan, Mother Jones (January 2, 2025).
"Author Anita Say Chan Thinks Silicon Valley May Have a Eugenics Problem. Here’s Why" features Associate Professor Anita Say Chan, San Francisco Chronicle (January 1, 2025).
2024
"Work-Life Balance: Practice Iteration over Perfection," by Associate Professor Rachel Adler, Women’s eNews (December 26, 2024).
"Urbana City Council Tables Measure that Would Require Approval for Police Surveillance Technology," features Associate Professor Anita Say Chan, IPM News (December 17, 2024).
"Teens Are Forming Intense Relationships with AI Entities, and Parents Have No Idea," features research by Professor Yang Wang and PhD student PhD student Yaman Yu, The Byte (December 3, 2024).
"K–12 Digital Education Must Involve Inclusion and Accessible Design," by Associate Professor Rachel Adler, Fulcrum (November 21, 2024).
"Dark Patterned Voices Manipulate Users," features Professor Michael Twidale and Smit Desai (MSIM '18, PhD '24), postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University, Communications of the ACM (October 18, 2024).
"3 Ways You Can Push Back against Election Misinformation," by Assistant Professor Madelyn Sanfilippo, The Hill (October 19, 2024).
"Necessity, Not A Relic: Why We Need Libraries Now," by Associate Professor Kyungwon Koh, The Opinion Pages (October 2, 2024).
"Power of Neurodiversity: Why Software Needs a Revolution," by Associate Professor Rachel Adler, Tech Policy Press (September 16, 2024).
"Are Retraction Notices Becoming Clearer?" features Associate Professor Jodi Schneider, Chemical and Engineering News (July 24, 2024).
"Toolkit: Project Helps Librarians Use Data Storytelling to Advocate For Public Libraries" features the Data Storytelling Librarians Toolkit developed by Associate Professor Kate McDowell, Assistant Professor Matthew Turk, and Teaching Assistant Professor Jill Naiman, Library Journal Info Docket, (July 10, 2024).
"Retract Now: Negating Flawed Research Must Be Quicker," by Associate Professor Jodi Schneider, MedPage Today (June 18, 2024).
Associate Professor Jodi Schneider is quoted "Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures," The Wall Street Journal (May 14, 2024).
Director of Research and Technology Innovation and Research Scientist Anita Nikolich is quoted in "President Biden Just Shut Down a Chinese Crypto Miner in Wyoming—But Dozens of Others Remain," Fortune (May 14, 2024).
"Talk to Children: Addiction Info Provides Emergency First Aid," by Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hoiem, The Fulcrum (May 8, 2024).
Associate Professor Jodi Schneider is quoted in "How Reliable Is This Research? Tool Flags Papers Discussed on PubPeer," Nature (April 30, 2024).
Associate Professor Emily Knox is quoted in "Bills Targeting Book Bans Raise Concerns about the Penalties Libraries Could Face," NBC News (March 28, 2024).
"Dealing with False Facts: How to Correct Online Misinformation," by Assistant Professor Madelyn Sanfilippo, The Fulcrum (March 7, 2024).
Professor Ted Underwood is quoted in "OpenAI Shows Off Lifelike Videos Generated by Sora, Its New AI Tool," The Washington Post (February 15, 2024).
"Big Tech Offers Little Help When Loved Ones Die," by Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo, The Hill (January 30, 2024).
"'Zombie' Retracted Papers Continue to Infect Future Research, Scholars Warn" features Associate Professor Jodi Schneider, The College Fix (January 17, 2024).
Associate Professor Masooda Bashir is quoted in "No, Roblox Users Can't See Others' Locations through 'Biometric Tracking' | Fact Check," USA Today (January 10, 2024).
"US Project Seeks Standard Way to Communicate Research Retractions" features Associate Professor Jodi Schneider, Nature (January 4, 2024).
2023
"Public Perceptions of Gender Bias in Large Language Models: Cases of ChatGPT and Ernie" features research from PhD student Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou and Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo, Montreal AI Ethics Institute (December 14, 2023).
Associate Professor Emily Knox was quoted in "To Fight So-Called Book Bans, Some States Are Threatening to Withhold Funding," NPR (December 14, 2023).
"Opinion: When Libraries like Gaza’s Are Destroyed, What’s Lost Is Far More than Books" by Adjunct Associate Professor Laila Hussein Moustafa, Los Angeles Times (December 12, 2023).
"Forget Sam Altman. America's Greatest AI Visionary Is...an English Professor in Illinois" features Professor Ted Underwood, Business Insider (December 6, 2023).
"Generative AI and Its Rapid Incorporation into Advertising," by Assistant Professor Madelyn Sanfilippo, The Fulcrum (December 1, 2023).
"Illinois Book Ban Reform: UIUC Prof. Emily Knox Explains Key Changes" features Associate Professor Emily Knox, Chicago Defender (November 27, 2023).
"Science Is Littered with Zombie Studies. Here’s How to Stop Their Spread" by Associate Professor Jodi Schneider, The Hill (November 26, 2023).
Associate Professor Emily Knox was quoted in "What's behind the National Surge in Book Bans? A Low-Tech Website Tied to Moms for Liberty," AOL (October 5, 2023).
"University of Illinois: Information Sciences Professor Developing Tool to Make Data Visualizations Accessible to Blind Researchers, Students" features Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo, Library Journal Info Docket (September 27, 2023).
"Study Examines Benefits and Obstacles of Library Data Storytelling" features Associate Professor Kate McDowell's research, Phys.org (September 26, 2023).
"Book Banning Debate Moves to U.S. Senate" features Associate Professor Emily Knox, Library Journal (September 25, 2023).
"'Books Can Be Mirrors or Books Can Be Windows': How to Decide What Kids Should Read" features Associate Professor Carol Tilley, Colin McEnroe Show (September 20, 2023)
"Crossref Acquires Retraction Watch Database" features Associate Professor Jodi Schneider's research, C&EN (September 19, 2023).
Associate Professor Sarah Park Dahlen is quoted in "Add a Little Mystery to Your Home with a Secret Room," The Washington Post (September 14, 2023).
Associate Professor Emily Knox is quoted in "U.S. Senate Hearing on Book Bans Probes Censorship Attempts in Local Libraries," Georgia Recorder (September 12, 2023).
Associate Professor Emily Knox is quoted in "Illinois Shown as Model for Nation during Federal Hearing on Book Bans," WAND-NEWS (September 12, 2023).
Associate Professor Emily Knox is quoted in "'Are You Telling Taxpayers To Shut Up?': Lindsey Graham Attacks Dems For Supporting Explicit Books," The Daily Caller (September 12, 2023).
"Scientific Retractions May Become Easier to Spot as Retraction Watch Finds New Partner" features Associate Professor Jodi Schneider’s research, Science (September 12, 2023).
Associate Professor Emily Knox is quoted in "For John Green, the Battle over Access to Books Has Gotten Personal," The New York Times (August 31, 2023).
"Opinion: Higher Education Entering Year 2 of Generative AI" features Professor Ted Underwood, Government Technology (August 8, 2023).
Assistant Professor Rachel M. Magee is quoted in "#FakeTok: How to Create Your Own Truth Filter for TikTok," Chicago Sun-Times (July 31, 2023).
Associate Professor Carol Tilley is quoted in "'Racist,' 'Grooming': Why Parents Are Trying to Ban So Many Picture Books," The Washington Post (July 12, 2023).
"New Study Reveals TikTok's Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation" features PhD student Morgan Lundy's research, Phys.org (June 14, 2023).
"Groups Challenging Books Are Organized. These South Florida Readers Want to Push Back" features Associate Professor Emily Knox, WLRN Miami for the article, (June 5, 2023).
"ChatGPT's Secret Reading List" features Professor Ted Underwood, Business Insider (May 30, 2023)
"What Role Should AI Play in Higher Education?" features Professor Ted Underwood, Illinois Public Media, The 21st Show (May 18, 2023).
"Higher Education Created Distance with My Family—But Our Love Endures" by iSchool Postdoctoral Research Associate Janaynne Carvalho do Amaral, Science (May 4, 2023).