iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2024), which will be held from May 11-16 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The conference, considered the most prestigious in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, attracts researchers and practitioners from around the globe. The theme for CHI 2024 is "Surfing the World."

MSLIS students Elizabeth Budd and Flannery Cusick have been selected as recipients of the 2023-2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the University Library at the University of Illinois.

BSIS student Adaeze Asonye, who hails from the Near West Side of Chicago, discovered her interest in user interface (UI)/user experience (UX) before her freshman year. She looked for programs that would help her prepare for a career in this area and discovered the iSchool.

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. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MSLIS student Ted Farias earned his BA in psychology from California State University of Long Beach.

iSchool researchers will present their work at the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Midwest Chapter Spring Symposium on April 26. The inaugural symposium will include talks by seventeen researchers from ten institutions across the Midwest region.

Several iSchool undergraduate students will participate in the 17th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. During the event, visitors will learn about undergraduate research projects through oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and art exhibits. All are welcome to attend the symposium, which will be held on April 25 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. in the Illini Rooms and South Lounge of the Illini Union. 

Thanks to new European Union (EU) legislation, those who perform on-demand work through an app or website, such as DoorDash or Uber, will enjoy better working conditions. PhD student Zachary Kilhoffer, who spent four years working as a researcher for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels prior to entering the iSchool's doctoral program, authored or co-authored several policy research pieces that informed the creation of the EU Platform Work Directive.

The following iSchool faculty and students participated in the virtual portion of iConference 2024 from April 15-18. The in-person portion of the conference will be held in Changchun, China, from April 22-26. The theme of this year’s conference is "Wisdom, Well-being, Win-win."

PhD student Emily Wegrzyn has been selected for the prestigious Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship-for-Service Program, which is funded by the Department of Defense. The primary aim of this program is to increase the number of civilian engineers and scientists in the U.S. 

When the Fighting Illini men's basketball team played in the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament this spring, BSIS student John Kramer was on the sidelines for each game—not simply as a fan but as a team manager. This is the second year that Kramer, a sophomore from Huntley, Illinois, has served in this role.