The University of Iowa Graduate College and UI Libraries Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio have selected eight graduate students for the 2026 Digital Scholarship & Publishing Summer Fellowship Program.
The eight-week program, which runs June 15 through Aug. 6, provides mentored digital scholarship development through coursework and hands-on application, along with training in tools and techniques to support innovative research and creative work.
Fellows will present their research and digital project progress at a public event at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, in the Franklin Miller Screening Room (Adler Journalism Building E105). The public is welcome to attend the presentation event and reception.
2026 fellows and projects
- Maya Arthur, poetry, MFA
Arthur will create a short-form video examining shifts in Black self-representation in Paris from the 1900 Exposition to the early 20th century. Combining archival materials, animated visuals, and original poetry, the project explores changes in visual expression and artistic presence. The work will also serve as a component of her MFA thesis.
- Akachukwu Ikefuama, journalism and mass communication, PhD
Ikefuama will build digital research skills, including web data collection, dataset organization, text analysis, and visualization. By examining a sample of online newspapers across Germany, Nigeria, and the United States, he plans to use digital methodologies to measure precarity in these nations. This work supports his dissertation on journalistic working conditions across multiple countries through comparative analysis of text-based data.
- Bryan Kendall, pharmacy, PhD
Kendall will examine commercial development and infrastructure differences of pharmaceutical trade routes between the eastern and western United States. Using a sunken steamboat that was wrecked in the Missouri River near Omaha in 1865 as a case study will give insights into Midwest and U.S. history.
- Ei Miyauchi, sociology, Ph.D.
Miyauchi will develop a data visualization project based on prior research into attitudes toward immigration across multiple countries. The project will illustrate similarities and differences in survey responses across several dimensions.
- Ollie Oliver, book arts, MFA
Oliver will create a map and census of book arts tools to document and connect access to specialized equipment. The project is designed to help artists locate and share resources and expand access beyond institutional settings.
- John Tappen, American studies, PhD
Tappen will build a digital site that integrates data visualization and qualitative analysis to examine trends in nonstandard employment in the United States. The project will combine statistical data with historical and cultural materials.
- Samuel Taylor, geography, PhD
Taylor will develop a digital storytelling project that translates satellite-based water quality monitoring and machine learning results into accessible formats. Using GIS tools, the work aims to improve understanding of environmental data for decision-makers and stakeholders.
- Zachary Vanes, cinematic arts, PhD
Vanes will digitize issues of Multi-Images Journal (1978–1980) to create an accessible archive. The project will support research on the transition in audiovisual media technologies and enable further analysis of the publication.