Research Labs

The iSchool is a leader in interdisciplinary research that pushes the boundaries of innovation. These research labs demonstrate the breadth of experience of our world-class faculty as they leverage the power of information to develop solutions to societal challenges.
 

The Adaptive Cognition and Interaction Design (ACTION) Lab
Assistant Professor Jessie Chin, Director
Aims at translating theories in cognitive sciences, human-computer interaction, human factors, and health informatics; builds sociotechnical solutions for promoting complex cognitive activities and health behavior/communication

Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab
Associate Professor Kyungwon Koh, Director
Offers a makerspace for campus and community to conduct, inspire, and support interdisciplinary research on making and design, embracing all types of scholarly inquiry; works with researchers across the campus and beyond on grant projects, publications and presentations, student research, and more

Community Data Clinic
Associate Professor Anita Say Chan, Director
Empowers community-centered data and research collaborations in East Central Illinois, focusing on advancing digital equity and civic empowerment; helps researchers build sustainable, long-term connections with local communities to address pressing sociotechnical challenges through inclusive community-driven solutions and innovations

The Data Exploration Lab
Assistant Professor Matt Turk, Director
Focuses on utilizing the power of data, visualization, and computing to explore, from the byte to the big bang

Extended Literatures & Literacies Lab (EL3)
Teaching Professor Judith Pintar, Director
Invites writers, artists, game designers, programmers, and interdisciplinary researchers to collaborate on research design and pedagogical projects in a range of modalities, including interactive digital storytelling, “eXtended” reality immersive situations simulations, and serious transformative games

Governance Lab on Sociotechnical Systems (GLOSS)
Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo, Director
Addresses issues of institutions, policy, law, management, and ethics associated with sociotechnical systems, drawing on mixed method research designs; specific areas of expertise include privacy, data commons, and inequality

(Human + Machine) Learning Lab (HPML)
Assistant Professor Nigel Bosch, Director
Conducts interdisciplinary research on educational psychology, machine learning, and how these areas intersect; develops data mining approaches to better understand and adapt to the experiences of students in digital learning environments; focuses on examining machine learning models and learning environments to reduce systematic biases against students

Information Experience and Accessibility Lab
Associate Professor Rachel Adler and Professor Christopher Lueg, Directors
Focuses on how people experience information differently in the context of human-computer interaction; designs applications that are usable for all, including neurodiverse individuals and people with disabilities

Information Quality Lab
Associate Professor Jodi Schneider, Director
Studies the science of science, bibliographic information retrieval (especially medical information), and how evidence-based arguments are used in scholarship and in public discourse; draws on data science, argumentation, knowledge representation, computer supported cooperative work, and human-computer interaction

iSchool Statistical Machine Learning And Artificial Intelligence Lab (iSAIL)
Professor Jingrui He, Director
Specializes in a wide range of topics related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, such as heterogeneous machine learning, active learning, neural bandits, and self-supervised learning, with applications in security, agriculture, social network analysis, health care, and finance.

Perception and LANguage (PLAN) Group
Assistant Professor Ismini Lourentzou, Director
Explores multimodal machine learning and learning with limited supervision; particularly interested in building intelligent task assistants that can fuse linguistic, visual, and other types of modalities to perceive and interact with the world

Scientific Language Processing Lab (ScienceNLP)
Associate Professor Halil Kilicoglu, Director
Uses natural language processing and machine learning to extract and organize knowledge from scientific texts, particularly biomedical literature, to benefit biomedical discovery and scholarship and improve health care outcomes

Skeuomorph Press & BookLab
Associate Professor Ryan Cordell, Director
Serves as an experiential studio for teaching and researching the history and art of the book; provides historical media and technology that fosters historical insight and innovation the future

Social Computing Systems (SALT) Lab
Associate Professor Yun Huang and Professor Yang Wang, Directors
Develop deep insights into how people with diverse abilities and backgrounds engage with sociotechnical computing systems; create innovative designs, AI systems, and infrastructure solutions that promote inclusive learning and enhance access to public services for social good

Social Sensing & Intelligence Lab
Associate Professor Dong Wang, Director
Aims to distill accurate and credible information from humans and their devices to accurately describe the state of the physical world and to explore collective intelligence from both humans and machines by understanding their complementary strengths and interactions; focuses on building the next-generation of human-centered computing and information (HCCI) systems

(x)Ability Design Lab
Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo, Director
Focuses on the ability and experience of all individuals, moving beyond the constraints of traditional accessibility discourse; pronounced as “Accessibility Design” Lab, in which the “x” embodies a mission to enhance user experience (UX) and learning experience (LX) by dismantling sociotechnical barriers associated with disability