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Working in the Small Artifacts (SMART) Lab, Assistant Professor of computer science Huaishu Peng (left) and doctoral students Zining Zhang (center) and Jiasheng Li discuss technology that can assist sight-impaired people. Photo by Mike Morgan Photography. Photo via Maryland Today.
Maryland Today: Blind People Struggle With Nonverbal Cues, A UMD-Cornell AI Project Could Help
INFO's Ge Gao is helping develop AI to assist blind professionals interpret nonverbal workplace cues

A lack of access to solid information has bred cynicism, depression and willingness to bend rules among the estimated 400 million people nationwide battling long COVID, according to new UMD research. Illustration by Adobe Stock via Maryland Today.
Maryland Today: COVID ‘Long-Haulers’ Lack Reliable Information, UMD Study Shows
INFO's Beth St. Jean finds long COVID patients face info gaps, fueling distrust and risky decisions

Photo licensed by Adobe Stock via InfiniteFlow
INFO Students Partner with Nonprofit to Overhaul Accessibility and Make a Bigger Impact
HCIM students gain real-world UX design experience working with the American Occupational Therapy Foundation on a website redesign
Reimagining Information Access: How INFO Is Centering Immigrant Voices in Tech, Policy & Archives
The Immigration and International Information Research Alliance (i3r) flips traditional scholarship on its head, treating immigrants as …
ALA Lecture Series: “What Comes Next: Libraries, Advocacy, and Public Policy—A Conversation with ALA President-Elect Sam Helmick”
ALA President-Elect Sam Helmick discussed 2025 library challenges and tools for change
(Video) Search Mastery Speaker Series: “Central Roles of Public Libraries in Supporting Their Communities’ Needs for Information and Beyond During the 1918 Influenza and COVID-19 Pandemics”
Dr. Beth St. Jean explores how public libraries fight infodemics

Instead of regulators playing catch-up, AI developers could help create safer systems if market-based incentives were put in place, UMD researchers say. Illustration by iStock.
Maryland Today: UMD Research Sends AI Safety to Market (ft. Abdirisak Mohamed)
INFO’s Abdirisak Mohamed joins UMD researchers in designing a market-driven approach to AI safety

This 1900 image of the Carlisle Indian School football team includes one of Assistant Professor Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner's ancestors. She said this and the photo of her great-great-great grandmother Joaquina Nahwilet (image at bottom) is a rare example of good photo metadata; improving the tools in archival research is a primary goal of the new Indigenous archives project she's co-leading. Photo by John N. Choate/Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections
Maryland Today: UMD Awarded $3.6M Mellon Foundation Grant to Advance Indigenous Archives
Project co-led by INFO and ARHU will develop tools, standards, and reparative practices to restore Indigenous histories