Our favorite UMSI stories and visuals of 2025

As the year comes to a close, we asked the Marketing & Communications team to pick their favorite story, photo or video published in 2025 — just one, don’t get greedy! — and explain what it means to them. 

You’ll find surprising backstories, moments you might have missed and plenty of reminders of how much can unfold in a year at the University of Michigan School of Information.

Archiving the nation's wild heart: UMSI students expand access to Yellowstone's history

As layoffs and funding cuts began to strike national parks in early 2025, we got word that a group of UMSI students would be spending their spring break in the archives of Yellowstone National Park. By processing a collection of records — maps, photographs and scientific data — they would help ensure the history of Yellowstone’s resources is available to researchers, ecologists and the public now and into the future. That was a story we had to tell!

Because multimedia producer Jeff Smith and I wouldn’t be traveling to Yellowstone ourselves (alas!), we connected before the trip with a student who had done some portrait photography, Nadiri Saunders, offering a list of shots she might capture for our use in a feature story. In our interview after she returned, Nadiri described the landscape of Yellowstone and her team’s work in the archives in such vivid, thoughtful detail. I saw how the calling of a park ranger and an archivist is similar: Both are working to protect something, so others can appreciate its beauty, too. Writing this story so transported me that a few months after it was published, when someone casually asked me if I’d been to Yellowstone, I told them “Yes!” without thinking — then immediately had to correct myself. I probably sounded like a compulsive liar, but really I’m just a lucky writer.

—Abigail McFee, marketing and communications writer

Venkatesh Potluri is building a more equitable and accessible future

“How do we create a more accessible world?”

This question is very near and dear to my heart, which is why this was my favorite story we wrote this year. Venkatesh is serious about making sure his accessibility work reaches not just other researchers, but also the people who really need it and will be affected by it. With technology changing so rapidly, there is a real risk that people with disabilities will be excluded from new innovations, so this is the sort of work we need to see in our field. 

I saw this article being shared in the different accessibility Slacks I’m a member of, by people who aren’t affiliated with UMSI. I was proud to see that this work is being recognized by other leaders in accessibility across the university.

—Anna Lawrence, web project manager

Art, algorithms and imagining alternative futures with Sophia Brueckner

Whenever I have the opportunity to do an environmental portrait, I know it’s going to be a good day, but this photo shoot with associate professor Sophia Brueckner was particularly memorable. I visited Sophia’s home art studio to capture photos of her in her element, which on that day meant embroidering a hat as part of her ‘Disruptive Camo’ project. I don’t think there is another place on earth where you will find a 19th-century Greek Revival farmhouse with a barn-like art studio filled with boxes of electronics, a decked-out soldering station, Laura Ashley-inspired camo gunstock and deer blind shaped like a canopy bed, and track lighting set up by the Detroit Institute of Arts’ specialist. 

Aside from capturing some nice images I felt represented Sophia and her work well, I enjoyed geeking out about some common hobbies. I discovered we both have a passion for collecting and restoring antique light fixtures, which was very exciting for me as I had yet to meet someone else with that interest. We also enjoy gardening from both a beauty and technical perspective, though Sophia is well beyond my skill level and has been certified as a master gardener by Michigan State University.

This project was a perfect example of why I love telling the UMSI story every day. We are a community filled with creators, with a limitless expanse of passions and curiosities, always pursuing something new, in company with good people.

—Jeffrey M. Smith, multimedia producer

High school student asks: “What is information?”

“What is information?” is a question many at UMSI are called upon to have a ready, succinct answer to, whether you teach and do research in the field or are a student or staff member. Yet information science is a rich and multifaceted tapestry of activities and disciplines that stubbornly defies easy explanation.

Still, Avan Zaman, a curious and likable high school senior, does a wonderful job interviewing three UMSI professors and posing this very question. We see Avan grapple with this question to try to understand if information might intersect with his own interests (it does). UMSI faculty members Steve Oney, Michaelanne Thomas and Oliver Haimson offer answers from their personal perspectives that explain their passion for the discipline they chose. 

Five stars!

—James Reitz, multimedia designer

Summer internship spotlights campaign

The creative campaign featured Instagram stories in the style of iMessage threads.

Grid posts took followers behind the scenes at Radio Flyer, as Lily Steinmetz described her internship highlights.

Summer internship spotlights campaign

UMSI students intern and go on to work at some truly amazing places. It’s so much fun not only to see what information in action looks like across different fields of study, but to be part of showing the world: Yeah, they need UMSI folks at Radio Flyer! 

I had a blast connecting with UMSI students across programs during their summer internships in 2025. They shared what they were working on, how their UMSI training was supporting them, and perks and highlights of their experiences straight from the field. 

Our social media followers got an inside look at the experiences of UMSI students interning at Ford, Radio Flyer, IBM and KPMG, plus a student pursuing a self-directed social innovation and entrepreneurship internship!

As someone whose undergraduate internships made all the difference in my career development, I was motivated to share these stories and excited by the engagement they received, especially by UMSI students hyping their friends on LinkedIn and Instagram. It was such a rewarding project, thanks to our awesome community.

—Martha Spall, marketing and communications writer

New book by Oliver Haimson explores how transgender people create new possibilities with technology

This story captures what I think is the heart of how so many of our researchers conduct research: They combine scholarship, lived experiences and deep care to guide their research directions. Oliver spent many years in conversation with trans people, learning about how they build community online, and I think this story is a beautiful encapsulation of how the work our researchers do doesn’t just document the world, but imagine new ways of living in it. It shows how research can be a form of care, connection and possibility, and this is why this story stands out to me. 

—Noor Hindi, public relations specialist