Faculty Research

Student Elisha Jewell and Assistant Professor of Practice Joy Marie Doan Research How NFTs Can Benefit Libraries

Libraries are often places of innovation, many times embodying the adage, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Sitting at the crossroads of technology and information access gives information sciences professionals a unique view of the world, and in the case of School of Information Sciences master’s student Elisha Jewell, a unique take on the blockchain…
SIS Professor Dania Bilal Works with PhD Student & Others to Learn How to Use Social Robots to Help People with Dementia

SIS Professor Dania Bilal has explored research in recent years centered on artificial intelligence (AI) from an information sciences perspective, exploring how people interact with various AI and robot interfaces. She most recently partnered with doctoral student, Fengpei Yuan, and her advisor, Professor Xiaopeng Zhao, at the University of Tennessee Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering,…
SIS Faculty, Students to Participate in ASIS&T 2021 Annual Meeting

At the end of this month, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will be well-represented at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) in Salt Lake City. It is at this conference that SIS Professor and Director Abebe Rorissa will move into the position of ASIS&T President-Elect Nov. 2, but many others from the SIS…
Assistant Professor Brian Dobreski Earns NASKO’s Best Paper Award Examining Aristotle’s ‘Categories’

What does an ancient Greek philosopher have to do with information sciences? SIS Assistant Professor Brian Dobreski answered that in a spring 2021 special topics course, Knowledge of Organization Systems, when he had students read and discuss Aristotle’s writing, “Categories.” Not only did it provide some interesting discourse, it inspired Dobreski to write a paper,…
Paper by PhD Student Joseph Winberry & Associate Professor Devendra Potnis Wins ALISE Award

When Joseph Winberry was still a master’s student at SIS, he was a graduate teaching assistant to Associate Professor Devendra Potnis and also assisted in research. Both Potnis and Winberry are interested in social innovation, social justice, and the role information sciences can play in both of those areas. Winberry was helping with Potnis’s research…
Assistant Professor Brian Dobreski Receives Bonnie Carroll and Roy Cooper Faculty Enrichment Award

Assistant Professor Brian Dobreski has just wrapped up his second year at the School of Information Sciences, and despite one of those years being in a pandemic, he’s still managed to produce exceptional research that earned him the SIS 2021 Bonnie Carroll and Roy Cooper Faculty Enrichment Award. In the last couple of years, Dobreski…
Empowerment Through Technology: Associate Professor Vandana Singh Given 2021 CCI Faculty Research Award

Associate Professor Vandana Singh wants her research to be a catalyst for change in the real world and therefore she pursues research topics that appeal to practitioners and advance the field of research. She has published about seventy journal articles and conference proceedings and that body of research has been recognized this year with the…
SIS, CICS Team Awarded $399K Sloan Grant to Study Early Career Researchers

As COVID-19 continues to affect the way people live, work, and learn around the world, researchers are beginning to gather data on how the pandemic is affecting society, and one such research team is from the College of Communication and Information’s Center for Information and Communication Studies (CICS) and the School of Information Sciences in…
SIS Faculty & Students Contribute at Fall Conferences, Including ALISE & ASIS&T

There are several fall conferences coming up soon, and SIS has faculty and graduate students participating in presentations, panels, and more. All of these conferences are virtual this year. Here is a round-up of their contributions. Professor Dania Bilal has several roles in the upcoming Association for Information Science & Technology Annual Meeting Oct. 22-Nov.…
SIS Associate Professor Devendra Potnis Honored by ASIS&T as SIG Member of the Year

Anyone reviewing SIS Associate Professor Devendra Potnis’s research and service work throughout his career can see he has a deep passion for helping people at an international level, as well as a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Whether it’s helping low-income populations in India become digitally literate, exploring how social media can be used…