University of Michigan School of Information researchers are addressing real-world problems through their work. Each day, UMSI faculty and PhD students are thinking through complex issues like privacy and security, the ethics of artificial intelligence, how best to use technology to leverage better health outcomes and meaningful practices for archiving works from marginalized communities. 

Their accomplishments are recognized both nationally and internationally. See their most recent achievements below. 

University of Michigan School of Information professors Nicole Ellison and Cliff Lampe earned Lasting Impact Researcher Recognition for their early research on social media. They were recognized at The 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing. 

“The body of work we did in this time frame is being recognized because it identified a shift in social computing, from being oriented around activities to being oriented around relationships,” Lampe says. “In addition, we identified how the shift from pseudonymous interactions to real name interactions online was going to lead to social network sites being used primarily to build and foster existing relationships. Finally, the field is recognizing us for building our work in such a way that we could systematically look at these trends in a way that elevated the discussion above the features of any individual platform.” 

Lampe and Ellison participated in a panel discussion of their work at CSCW, which took place in Minneapolis this year. Lampe is the associate dean for academic affairs at UMSI, and Ellison shares a joint appointment with U-M’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts. She is also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 

“I think I speak for Nicole when I say we are incredibly gratified by the recognition,” Lampe says. “At the panel discussing our work several researchers spoke about the impact our research agenda had on them and on the field, and how we legitimized research in this area at a time when it was seen as somewhat fringe. People who were students at the time spoke about how the work shaped their own research, and people more senior than us recognized the overall quality and impact of the work. Personally, there’s nothing for me that could be better than this recognition. Having our research community pause to note the enduring effect our efforts have is remarkable, and that session will forever be a highlight of my career.”

Read Cliff Lampe and Nicole Ellison’s research and learn more about them by visiting their UMSI faculty profiles. 

Read more about CSCW’s Lasting Impact Award. 

Check out UMSI papers, workshops and awards at CSCW 2023 by visiting our research roundup. 

More recent accolades: 

University of Michigan School of Information lecturer Merve Hickok earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in AI, a nonprofit focused on inclusive AI that benefits global society. Her work is being recognized for “not only shaping the AI industry, but laying the groundwork for a more equitable and inclusive future.” Currently the president and research director of the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), Hickok has long pushed for more AI regulation to reduce the risks of amplifying bias and widening the impacts of structural inequalities. 

Learn more about Merve Hickok by visiting her UMSI faculty profile. 

The National Center for Institutional Diversity, home to the Anti-Racism Collaborative at The University of Michigan, has awarded four anti-racism grants and fellowship to UMSI faculty and students. The program is part of U-M’s Office of the Provost anti-racism initiative. 

UMSI assistant professor Megan Threats earned a 2023 Anti-Racism Research & Community Impact Faculty Fellowship for her project “Navigating Barriers to Re-Entry: Advancing Health and Digital Literacy Among Returning Citizens.” Learn more about her project. 

UMSI professor Tiffany Veinot earned a 2023 Anti-Racism Grant for her research on the impact of structural racism on disease in Detroit. The project aims to identify the social and environmental determinants of health affected by the federal government’s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation map of Detroit, made in 1939 that previously redlined majority Black districts of Detroit, and determine how these factors affect the health of current residents. Read more about the grant. 

UMSI doctoral students Alex Lu and Sony Prosper earned 2023 Anti-Racism Graduate Research Grants. Lu’s project involves seniors and youth from Detroit’s east side, encouraging them to “collectively envision alternative socio-technical infrastructures of community safety and resilience that are excluded by coercive surveillance and control.” Read more about Lu’s project. 

Prosper’s project, “Archival Repatriation: Radio Haiti Archive Case Study,” studies the archival repatriation and return of the Radio Haiti Archive to Haiti. It asks “how should the archive at Duke be returned and repatriated to Haiti? What role does the Haitian diaspora play? What are the barriers and obstacles to repatriating and returning the Radio Haiti archive?” Read more about Prosper’s project. 

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