The iSchool is pleased to announce that two students have been selected to receive a “Beyond These Walls” Student Travel Award.
Established in 2012, this fund provides financial support to allow Master’s students from any program at the College of Information Studies to attend local and national conferences, present research, and gain experience and exposure to professionals in our field. Each of our two winners will receive up to $500 to help with the costs of their travel. Our Fall 2019 winners are:
- Emily Moore, a student in our Master’s of Library and Information Science Program (Individualized Program Plan), will be attending the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (https://www.marac.info/). Emily writes, “New to the archiving profession, I am eager to expand my understanding of the work that we do, and feel strongly about the importance of learning from my colleagues and mentors. There are a number of sessions I am interested in attending, but I’m particularly keen on W3 (Reparative Archives), S4 (Reference Services in the Digital Age) and S6 (Controversy in the Archives). I am proud to be working at an institution that focuses on creating space and awareness for women, and am sensitive to the importance of the resources I am currently working with and in charge of. Attending the MARAC workshops would provide me with the opportunity to learn more about both the theoretical and practical concerns of archiving, and serve to shore up and expand on concepts I have, so far, only explored in the classroom.”
- Dan Yang, a student in our Master’s of Information Management program (Information Analysis: Data Analytics specialization), will be travelling to Detroit, Michigan for the Women of Color in STEM Conference (https://www.facebook.com/WOCITC/). Dan writes: “One of the primary reasons I wish to attend this Conference will be gathering all the career level professionals in the Computing field. The conference will not only provide me with a platform to learn more about a career in data analytics, which I believe this conference will enhance my understanding of a data analytics career and the challenges it presents; but also provide me an opportunity to incite conversation between experienced researchers or industrial women leaders and me, that would be indispensable to my study and career goals. Seminars and workshop sessions will help me to form relationships with experienced women in the field. The knowledge and skills I will acquire from this conference will provide real world experience to reinforce the more theoretical classroom work and will be immediately applicable to my university projects, such as creating tools to automate data processing and accurately analyze data transactions. Therefore, attending the Women of Color in STEM Conference will not only enhance my skill sets in educational and performance experience, but also the application of the latest technology and valuable networking, especially as a minority woman entering this innovative field. I would be very grateful if the iSchool support my participation in this significant conference for women.”
We are also pleased to announce that two of our doctoral students have been selected to receive a Dr. Dana Rotman Doctoral Student Travel Award.
This fund was established by Dr. Yaron Rotman, Dana’s husband, to enable College of Information Studies doctoral students to attend and present at conferences. Dana received her doctorate from our College in 2013. As a student, Dana frequently attended academic and professional conferences and was excited to present her work, learn from fellow academics and researchers, and network with professionals in the field. Each of our two winners will receive up to $1,000 to help with the costs of their travel. Our Fall 2019 winners are:
- Alisha Pradhan, a second-year doctoral student here at the iSchool, will be travelling to the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (https://cscw.acm.org/2019/)
in Austin, Texas. Alisha will be presenting her research, “Ontological Categorization of Voice Assistants by Older Adults,” at the conference. Alisha writes: “As a doctoral student with research interests in human-computer interaction (HCI), more specifically designing and building social technologies that affect communities, the Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) conference will introduce me to the fascinating advancements and state-of-art research in the field. Diverse research talks and poster presentations, along with interactions with the researchers at CSCW will help me grow as a researcher, enabling me to appreciate multiple disciplines and perspectives within HCI and CSCW. In addition to being a premier conference, attending CSCW is specifically beneficial for me since it has a strong presence of research from both industry and academia. Being an early career researcher, this conference can broaden my outlook and introduce me to opportunities and challenges in both industry and academia. These diverse experiences will shape my career path towards an independent researcher. Overall, attending the conference will provide me a unique platform to network with researchers having similar interests.Starting as a doctoral student, I have struggled in connecting with fellow graduate students from other universities with similar research interests and aspirations. Realizing the importance of having peer networks in graduate school, I believe the CSCW conference will enable me to build and sustain strong professional peer network.” - Ekta Shokeen, a first-year doctoral student, will be travelling to the Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA) (https://web.cvent.com/event/2b6a9739-5624-41a3-8134-763bfebe1738/summary) in St Louis, MO. Ekta recently began working with Dr. Caro Williams-Pierce and Dr. Janet Walkoe on analyzing mathematics learning, teacher noticing and gestures. Both of these researchers will be presenting this work at the conference. Ekta writes: “This is the most eminent conference in the field of my research interest- mathematics education. Attending this conference will give me an opportunity to network with researchers who share common research interests. The participation in this conference will also help me to broaden my horizons of critical issues by engaging in the exchange of scientific information in the psychology of mathematics education. I have plans to present my research work in this conference next year so attending this now will give me a great exposure to understand the culture and expectations in terms of presenting in this conference.”
We wish them well on their travels!
Yla Tausczik, Beth St. Jean, & Ron Padron
iSchool Awards Committee Co-Chairs