The Department of Information Science is pleased to announce that four students in the Information Science Ph.D. program have been awarded IS Endowed Graduate Fellowships. Huyen Nguyen and Millicent Njeri are the recipients of the Dewey E. Carroll Fellowship, and Ijeoma (Ijay) Kaz- Onyeakazi and Daniel Agbaji are the recipients of the Mark E. Rorvig Fellowship. The fellowships are offered by the department and help provide financial support to graduate students in the Information Science Department who have demonstrated the potential for outstanding research and/or teaching in the fields of information science, library science, and data science.
Dewey E. Carroll Fellowship Recipients
Millicent is a student leader. She is distinguished by her professionalism, collegiality, and perseverance. She assists students and faculty in both the Department of Information Science and the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. She has played an important role in course design and revisions. Millicent has worked to bridge the gap between academia and the public and private sectors.
"I am sincerely honored to be selected as a recipient of the Dewey E. Carroll Fellowship. I am extremely grateful to the Department of Information Science for this award. I am also very grateful to Drs. Jeff Allen and Kim Williams for their support," says Njeri.
Huyen Nguyen
Huyen Nguyen, as described by her faculty recommenders, is passionate and brilliant. Her intellectual curiosity and diligence, along with her attention to detail, make her an impressive leader and researcher. Huyen has a passion for technologyand AI, with her expertise lying in automatic text summarization using deep learning and natural language processing.
“I have a passion for technology and AI, and my expertise lies in automatic text summarization using deep learning and natural language processing. I am committed to inspiring women in my country, and beyond, to pursue careers in technology and AI, recognizing the gender gap in these fields,” says Huyen.
Huyen has collaborated with both professors and students to publish multiple research papers in top-tier information science journals. Huyen also works as a Graduate Student Assistant, Teaching Assistant, and Teaching Fellow for the Information Science Department.
Mark E. Rorvig Fellowship Recipients
Daniel Agbaji
Daniel has a passion for pursuing cutting-edge research that would transcend the information science field. His collaborations with faculty members have demonstrated his competency in research and his recommenders believe he possesses the potential to make great contributions to the field of Information Science. Hardworking, brave, and motivated, Daniel has excelled in his program and is actively involved in faculty research.
"I'm grateful and delightfully honored to receive the Mark E Rorvig Fellowship Award. This award is an excellent motivation for me to continue the pursuit of my passion in scholarly activities- research and teaching, and to give back to the academic community via voluntary teaching, presentation, and collaborative research,” said Agbaji.
Ijeoma Kaz-Onyeakazi is described as a very hard-working and dedicated doctoral student by her recommenders. Ijay brings a wealth of professional experience to the program, is involved with department research and instruction, and excelled in teaching her first independent course as a teaching fellow. Her research interests include applied data science, Artificial Intelligence, and AI Ethics. She holds a master’s degree in Computational Science and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Electronics Engineering. Ijeoma is passionate about fostering an ecosystem between academia and industry to develop new ethical AI approaches.
"When hard work is recognized and rewarded, the standards are raised higher," said Kaz-Onyeakazi. " I receive the Mark E. Rorvig Fellowship award with an utmost sense of responsibility to continue to contribute to higher standards of research in the field of Information Science and Data Science in memory of Dr. Mark E. Rorvig.”
Applications for the IS Endowed Graduate Fellowships are accepted in the fall semester. For more about the IS Endowed Graduate Fellowships, visit the Assistantships and Fellowships page .