PhD: Information Science

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You belong here.

At CU, students are as important as the problems they solve.

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Diverse Students

Information science is a broad discipline and our students come from a range of backgrounds. Some have computer science degrees听and come prepared to take on information science with a toolkit of computational and data science methods. Some have little to no experience in computing听but have backgrounds in social science or qualitative research. Some come to us with a rich knowledge of domains (e.g., public health, education听or journalism) to which information science research and techniques can be applied. Some come straight out of undergraduate programs,听others have already completed graduate degrees, and others have years of professional experience.

Our program is designed to help PhD听students tailor their education towards their own research interests and skill sets while developing a shared body of knowledge around methods, computational techniques, theoretical frameworks听and design practices.

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Student Voices: Why CU?

Dylan Thomas Doyle

鈥淎s a second career PhD student, the Information Science Program at CU has empowered me to grow in both personal and professional ways. The faculty I have been able to work with are empathetic and brilliant. They push me to be a more effective scholar and give me the freedom to shape my impact on the field.鈥�

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Erin Robinson

"I looked for a long time to find a graduate program that was the right fit to combine my interest in how science communities collaborate around information. The students and faculty here听bring听together diverse ways of knowing and expertise. This has been a productive and supportive place for me to learn and grow as researcher. It is also exciting to be in a place that I can apply what I learn so rapidly to my research."

Dipto Das

"I love the interdisciplinary nature of the information science department at CU Boulder! The community is inclusive and open to new ideas. Together we all work on important and interesting topics around people and technology."

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Samantha Dalal

"The CU Boulder information science department truly embodies the principles of an intersectional education. I have found mentorship in both quantitative data analytics skills and qualitative research methods all within a deeply supportive academic community. This department is an ideal environment to grow as a scholar engaged in applied topical research."

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Research a mile above ordinary.
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Information science faculty and students conduct research that spans topics across the discipline, with a strong focus on human-centered topics such as social computing, data science, ethics and policy, education and learning, accessibility, HCI, and design. (However, note that our department does not have a library science program.)

Learn more about the听research groups led by our faculty.

Learn more about the research interests of both our faculty and current PhD students听on their profile pages. In addition, Jonathan Zong will be joining as a new assistant professor in fall 2025 and is .

In recent years, our听PhD students have published and presented work in venues such as CHI (human-computer interaction), AAAI (artificial intelligence), CSCW (collaboration & social computing), FaaCT (fairness and accountability), Ubicomp (ubiquitous computing), AOIR (internet research), DIS (interaction design) and SIGCSE (computer science education). Below is a small selection of student work:

Amanda Aird, Cassidy All, Paresha Farastu, Elan Stefancova, Joshua Sun, Nicholas Mattei, Robin Burke. "" In ACM RecSys 2023.
Katy Weathington, Jed R. Brubaker. ""听Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. Volume 7, Issue CSCW1, Article No.: 84, pp 1鈥�26. 2023.
Jessie J. Smith, Anas Buhayh, Anushka Kathait, Pradeep Ragothaman, Nicholas Mattei, Robin Burke, Amy Voida. ""听FAccT '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, pp. 1652-1663. 2023.
Ellen Simpson, Bryan Semaan. ""听CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.听April 2023.听Article No.: 244. pp.听1鈥�16.
Janghee Cho, Tian Xu, Abigail Zimmermann-Niefield, and Stephen Voida. "." In听CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1-23. 2022.
Shamika Klassen, Sara Kingsley, Kalyn McCall, Joy Weinberg, and Casey Fiesler. "."听Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction听5, no. CSCW2 (2021): 1-29.
Simpson, Ellen, Andrew Hamann, and Bryan Semaan. ""听Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction听6, no. GROUP (2022): 1-27.
Smith, Jessie J., Saleema Amershi, Solon Barocas, Hanna Wallach, and Jennifer Wortman Vaughan. "" In听2022 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, pp. 587-597. 2022.
Sonboli, Nasim, Robin Burke, Michael Ekstrand, and Rishabh Mehrotra. ""听AI Magazine听43, no. 2 (2022): 164-176.

Across our department, there are many research projects happening at any given point, covering a wide range of domains and methods. Examples of funded projects in our department include research involving , 听,听, ,听,听, , ,听,听fairness-aware recommender systems,听, , 听and .

Members of our faculty sometimes seek PhD prospective students with an interest in specific research areas or in specific funded projects. Advisor fit is also a critical part of PhD admissions, so we highly recommend that you look into the research areas of specific faculty and their research labs and consider if there is a good potential match for you. Additionally, depending on capacity and timing, some faculty members might be more actively recruiting than others. You should feel free to reach out to faculty members individually to inquire about research areas and advising capacity.

In addition, Jonathan Zong will be joining as a new assistant professor in fall 2025 and is .

Student Voices: Fellowships & Industry Research Internships

Laurie Jones (Los Alamos National Lab)

"This summer I worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a graduate student researcher. It was really exciting because I was able to work hands on within the government lab and get a glimpse of what that entails. It was great to see all the diverse work that was being done and how my interests were reflected in that. I came out having pushed myself to achieve our project goals and motivated to bring that into my personal research. There was also a fun connection because the people I worked with had collaborated with a past CU Information Science PhD!"

Shamika Klassen (UX Design Research Intern, Substantial)

"At , I conducted research for an Ed-Tech company including interviews and a co-design session to distill insights on how early faculty can be supported in teaching underserved STEM undergraduates.听I also worked with the other intern on a capstone project to create an Equity-Centered Design Maturity Assessment Tool.听In addition to research, I received professional development as a burgeoning UX Researcher and facilitated a workshop on the Black Mirror Writer鈥檚 Room Exercise with the design team.听 Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my first industry internship and look forward to collaborating with them again in the future."

Jessie Smith (Google Fellowship)

"I am so grateful to have been awarded a PhD fellowship from Google for my research on fairness and transparency in recommender systems. Getting funded from big tech gives me a great chance to show that AI ethics research is important outside of academia, and gives me an opportunity to tap into the industry while completing my PhD."

Janghee Cho (Meta Fellowship)

"I am honored to have been awarded the Meta PhD Research Fellowship. Meta offered me a Fellowship with the AR/VR Future Technologies team to conduct studies to envision future technologies for remote workers鈥� wellbeing. I鈥檓 excited to generate new ideas on how AR/VR technologies can be situated in a home with a focus on social interaction for two years."

PhD Requirements

Application Deadlines

US applicants:听
Dec. 1

International applicants:听
Dec.听1

How to Apply

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The PhD in Information Science is for students听who want to engage in empirical investigations of interdisciplinary problems. Students in the PhD program will learn a diversity of methods, theoretical frameworks, design practices听and computational techniques. A PhD student's scholarly practice will include听collaborative research on grant-driven projects.

The scholarly skills required of PhDs in information science are fundamentally analytical, creative, interdisciplinary听and in constant interaction with information that is generated, manipulated听and transformed within and across domains. The PhD aligns culturally with the grant-driven, collaborative 鈥渓ab model鈥澨齩f research that characterizes the natural and engineering sciences, but is nevertheless deeply integrative of the social sciences and humanities in its scholarly pursuit and intellectual contributions.

The PhD program in information science requires听a minimum of 30 course credit hours and 30 thesis credit hours. Students are encouraged to take courses outside of the department beyond any departmental foundation courses pending approval by their advisor and the graduate committee. 听After a written and听oral preliminary exam, students go on to specialize in a dissertation area in consultation with their committees. Completion of the PhD will take approximately five years.

See INFO PhD program handbook听for more information.

Bachelor鈥檚 degree or its equivalent
We encourage applications from individuals representing the broad range of disciplines that bring fundamental skills and insights to bear on the range of issues related to understanding and shaping a future of information science as envisioned above. However, all students admitted to the program will be expected to develop a breadth of competencies (including empirical, computational听and designerly competencies) that are essential to being a researcher in this diverse, interdisciplinary field. One鈥檚 ability and willingness to expand skillsets should be demonstrated in the statement of purpose.
CV or resume
Statement of purpose (maximum of two pages):
- Your statement of purpose should describe a question, problem or topic in information science that you have a passion to address.
- Please describe how your previous academic training, professional experience and/or personal passions have led you to this question, problem or topic and have drawn you to this degree program.
- Identify the faculty members with whom you would be interested in working and why.
Undergraduate GPA of at least 3.20, and graduate GPA of 3.50 if any prior graduate coursework was taken.
One unofficial transcript from each college or university attended.
Three letters of recommendation from people qualified to judge your potential for success in graduate school.
- The most compelling letters will provide specific observations about the candidate鈥檚 promise in analytical thinking, scientific communication (both oral and written), research听and teaching, as well as a demonstration of teamwork and collegiality.
GRE scores are not required for students applying to our graduate program. Applicants are welcome to submit a general GRE score听but will not be at a disadvantage if they choose not to.
Optional: A writing sample in addition to the statement of purpose.
International applicants should also have a TOEFL score of 100, or an IELTS score of 7.0, or a DuoLingo of 120.

Faculty member, Casey Fiesler, maintains听a playlist of . Though this advice is not specific to our department, you may find it helpful.

It is also not uncommon for applicants to reach out to specific faculty advisors prior to submitting their application in order to inquire about current research interests and advising capacity. You can find contact information for faculty on听their profile pages.

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Phone: 303-735-0730

Email:听cmcigrad@colorado.edu

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Contact the Department of Information Science

Department of Information Science:

General Inquiries: 听Email

Join us on LinkedIn:听

CMCI Department of Information Science (INFO)
1045 18th Street, UCB 315
Boulder, CO 80309

听303-735-7581

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PhD: Information Science

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Diverse Students