The Future of Information Alliance at UMD Awarded $1 Million

The Future of Information Alliance at UMD Awarded $1 Million

The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation has awarded $1 million to the Future of Information Alliance at the University of Maryland. The Future of Information Alliance was established in 2011 to learn more about vital information-related challenges and opportunities. The Alliance was formed to serve as a catalyst for dialogue across disciplines and to promote research on issues related to the growing role of information in everyday life. It is co-directed by Professor Allison Druin of Maryland’s iSchool and Associate Professor Ira Chinoy of Maryland’s College of Journalism. The FIA operates with support from the Office of the Vice President for Research and all of the colleges’ and schools’ deans across campus. The award money will be used to create a seed-grant competition for students and mentors and to improve the “Visiting Future-ist” program that is part of the Alliance.

The seed-grant competition is designed to inspire innovation and research by multidisciplinary teams of students with faculty mentorship. Each group will collaborate with one of the FIA's 10 Founding Partners. Students in each of four winning teams will be designated as Deutsch-FIA Student Fellows and will receive earnings for work on their projects.

The award funds will support the expansion of the Visiting Future-ist program to have three events every year. This program was launched in November 2011 with a week of on-campus programs. Leading innovators from companies like Google, Twitter and Microsoft discussed their own work and brainstormed with hundreds of students, faculty and staff. Google is an FIA Corporate Affiliate.

For more information, visit:

http://www.cisionwire.com/university-of-maryland--college-park/r/umd-s-future-of-information-alliance-receives--1-million,c9299180

August 30, 2012