Executive Associate Dean of the School of Information Science at University of Illinois visited the Kasuga area of University of Tsukuba.
On June 3, 2025, Dr. J. Stephen Downie, Interim Executive Associate Dean and Professor at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), visited the University of Tsukuba and delivered a special lecture.
The University of Illinois is internationally renowned for its strengths in computer science, engineering, and electrical engineering. Its School of Information Sciences has consistently ranked No.1 in the United States since 1996. The School is known for its interdisciplinary approach to education and research, with particular focus on cutting-edge fields such as game studies, data science, and digital humanities. Like our university, it is also a member of the global iSchool consortium, composed of leading information schools from research universities around the world.
On the day, Professor Atsuyuki Morishima, Dean of the Institute of Library, Information and Media Science, provided an overview of the University of Tsukuba and presented the initiatives of the Asia-Pacific iSchool regional chapter. This was followed by a discussion on the future direction of the Information Science community and the overall operations of the iSchools. Subsequently, a special lecture by Dr. Downie was held in the Media Hall.
Entitled “Making More Sense with Machines: AI in the Library,” the lecture offered insights into the School of Information Sciences at UIUC, and presented advanced research cases such as the use of HathiTrust for scholarly analysis, AI-driven character detection in narratives, and automatic classification of film genres.
After the lecture, Dr. Downie visited Professor Joho’s Laboratory, Associate Professor Yamamoto’s Laboratory, and the Fusioncomp Laboratory (Professors Morishima and Ito), where faculty members and students shared their research. This provided students with a valuable opportunity to engage directly with a leading international researcher.
Through this visit, collaboration between the University of Tsukuba and the University of Illinois, particularly within the iSchool framework, has been further strengthened, paving the way for deeper academic exchange on a global scale.
Left: Prof. J.Stephen Downie | Right: Prof. Atsuyuki Morishima
Prof. Morishima presenting an overview of the University of Tsukuba
Scene from the Distinguished Lecture