Students

Raphael Ebiefung awarded prestigious Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Program fellowship

iSchool Accolades

We want to honor and acknowledge the undergraduate and graduate students making a difference and earning recognition during the academic year.

2025-2026 Academic Year

Awards

Deans' & Directors' Lecture Awards Ceremony

Courtney Swartzendruber
Robert V. Williams Research Award - This award honors a student who has made exemplary contributions to scholarly research.

Allison Hall
William M. Trafton III Outstanding Student Award for Leadership - This is given annually to an outstanding student leader who promotes a sense of community at the iSchool through school work, professional participation and involvement with student organizations.

Kim Wood
Wayne S. Yenawine Distinguished Student Award - This award is presented to a graduate from the previous year's class based on the entirety of the student experience including grade point average, quality of class participation and the ability to assimilate information and pass it on.

Caleb Counts
Samantha K. Hastings Student Award for Undergraduate Leadership - This award honors an outstanding undergraduate student leader in the school.

Cooper Grant and Ernest Helms
Undergraduate Scholarship Award - This award honors an outstanding undergraduate student for academic excellence.

Ellie Davis
Information Science Student Association Scholarship - The ISSA Scholarship honors active members who demonstrate meaningful involvement in ISSA, a genuine commitment to the organization's goals, and a drive to grow both personally and professionally within the field.

Mehrnoush Mokhtarnejad, University Libraries Graduate Student Data Visualization Award

Mehrnoush Mokhtarnejad, a Ph.D. candidate in Library and Information Science, earned the award for “Mapping America’s Energy Footprint, Household Consumption and Costs by State, 2020,” which uses advanced data visualization techniques to analyze residential energy consumption disparities across U.S. States. Glenn Bunton, University Libraries Data Visualization Librarian, says: “Ms. Mokhtarnejad’s entry shows how one can combine relatively simple bar charts with more complex heatmaps, symbol maps, and scatterplots to convey important information in a clear and meaningful way."

Doctoral student Yi Wan has been selected as one of only three 2025 ALISE Leadership Development Interns!
This marks the second year the iSchool has proudly sponsored an intern — and the first time our own student has been selected! We’re honored to be an inaugural sponsor of this impactful program.
Learn more about the internship»

Previous Academic Terms

Containing Mis/Disinformation: Evaluating the Impact of Platform Labeling on AI-Generated Political Videos
Cindy Chen, Carrie Xiao (faculty advisor: Ehsan Mohammadi)
Award amount: $500

Empowering Black Professionals with Terminal Degrees Through Digital Media
Kiera O’Shea (faculty advisor: Bryan Jenkins)
Award amount: $500

Postpartum Depression: Exploring Young Women’s Information-Seeking Behaviors Through the Planned Risk Information-Seeking Model
Chinwendu Akalonu (faculty advisor: Vanessa Kitzie)
Award amount: $500

Deans' and Directors' Lecture

Sydney Kaufmann - Samantha K. Hastings Student Award for Undergraduate Leadership

Yi Wan and Laila Conway - Robert V. Williams Research Award

Beth King - William M. Trafton III Outstanding Student Award for Leadership

Heather Kiessling - Wayne S. Yenawine Distinguished Student Award

Jennifer Bartell Boykin, Beka Darrah, Cody Alan Drinkard, Margaret Cook Jackson, Wing Ling Tang, Isabel Ann Turk, Cory C. Watson - Beta Phi Mu Initiates

Yi Wan

Yi Wan was selected as one of the three recipients of the 2025 ALISE Leadership Development Internship Program award.

During the 2025 ALISE Conference, Wan will participate in, and assist association leadership with conference activities, including the ALISE Emerging Scholars Program. She will also design and complete the 2025 Intern Class project to be presented at the 2026 ALISE Conference, as well as meet with their select ALISE Leadership Mentor throughout the 2025-2026 conference year.

Eugene Garfield Dissertation Fellowship

Valerie Vera is a recipient of the Eugene Garfield Dissertation Fellowship.

The fellowship is awarded to doctoral students who are working on their dissertations in library and information science, information studies, informatics or a related field. Vera's dissertation is Navigating Digital Margins: Trauma-Informed Design for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Information on Social Media.

Bilinski Dissertation Fellowship

Rhys Dreeszen Bowman has been selected as a Biliniski Dissertation Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. During the fellowship, Dreeszen Bowman, who uses the pronoun they, will focus on completing their dissertation — From Margins to Center: Community-Based Action Research with Transgender Communities in South Carolina.

The McCausland College of Arts and Sciences manages the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Fellowships which provide $40,000 to graduate students in the humanities and social sciences to support completion of their doctoral degrees.

Ethel Bolden Minority Fellowship

Doctoral student Amanda Lockett is a recipient of the 2024 Ethel Bolden Minority Fellowship sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation. The fellowship encourages and provides support to students from underserved and underrepresented ethnic and racial groups who are working toward an undergraduate or graduate degree. Fellows receive $3,500 in financial assistance towards continuing their education.

Lockett is a cultural preservationist with unique experiences preserving artifacts, stories, and records within Gullah Geechee communities. She will use her skills and experience to assist Richland Library customers in capturing and archiving their personal experiences and oral histories through storytelling.

Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Program

Raphael Ebiefung, a doctoral student specializing in human-AI interaction and information behavior, has been selected as a fellow in the university’s esteemed Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Program.

Ebiefung’s research focuses on how generative AI technologies affect the information-seeking behavior and learning patterns of undergraduate students. He believes the fellowship will deepen his understanding and expand his capacity to contribute meaningfully to both scholarship and teaching.

The Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Program will provide three years of funding, totaling $30,000, in support of Ebiefung’s doctoral studies.

Nancy Jane Day Scholarship

LISSA President Beth King was awarded the Nancy Jane Day Scholarship from the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. This merit-based scholarship supports the development of school library media specialists by recognizing individuals pursuing advanced degrees or certification in school librarianship. The scholarship reimburses the cost of one selected course taken within the last year. Beth is currently a library assistant at Lugoff-Elgin High School in Kershaw County.

Code4Lib Scholarship

Samaneh Borji is a recipient of the Code4Lib Scholarship . The scholarship was made possible by donations from Princeton University Library, Innovative, and generous individuals in the Code4Lib community from the Angel Fund fundraising.

Other grants and awards:

Recipient of the 2024-2026 Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue research grant ($3,000).

USC Graduate School Travel Grant (Jan. 2025) - $500

NNLM Regional Medical Library Region 2 Professional Development Award (Dec. 2024) - $3,000
Medical University of South Carolina

Mateo Moyon

Mateo Moyon was the recipient of the Undergraduate Scholarship awarded during the annual Deans' and Directors' Lecture. The award honors an outstanding undergraduate student for academic excellence.

Two iSchool doctoral students were members of winning teams who participated in the school's IBM watsonx competition. The student teams were given a challenge question to address: How can generative AI technology improve equitable access to essential resources and opportunities for all people?

Jiaxuan Zhang was a member of the second place team which developed an AI-powered chatbot to combat food insecurity for students and connect them with local farmers. His team earned a $5,000 prize.

Amirreza Kalantari was a member of the third place team which earned a $2,500 prize. They developed the training of a generative AI to improve access to emergency information during hurricanes.

College of Information and Communications

Raphael Ebiefung awarded prestigious Grace Jordan McFadden Professor Program fellowship