My students and I receive funding from many sources.
The Information Schoolโ My lab's primary source of funding is the University of Washington Information
School. It pays 9 months of my salary, it subsidizes my doctoral students' time
through teaching assistantships, it provides space and staff support, and it provides
my core intellectual community. The iSchool's resources come from tuition, fees,
taxes from the Washington state government, and philanthropic giving.
National Science Foundationโ The majority of my sponsored research is funded by the U.S. National Science
Foundation, which is tax-funded. I write proposals, which are confidentially evaluated
by my peers, and when my peers and NSF find my proposals to have compelling intellectual
merit and potential for broader impact, I receive grants. I use these grants to
support my summer salary, my doctoral students stipends, benefits, and tuition,
my lab's research expenses, hourly undergraduate research assistants, and our
travel. My doctoral students also write their own proposals, often winning NSF
graduate research fellowships to support the first 3 years of their doctoral work.
My NSF awards include:
Six of my 13 past and present doctoral students have also won NSF Graduate Research
Fellowships, which support three years of their research.
For those preparing CAREER proposals looking for a exemplars, here is my
awarded proposal.
Microsoftโ Occasionally, collaborators across Microsoft, such as those in Microsoft
Research and Microsoft's developer division, will give me unrestricted gifts to
support my lab. These are no strings attached contributions, which I rely on for
expenses that the iSchool and NSF will not support, such as buying out of teaching
to free up research time and unplanned research expenses.
Googleโ In the past, I have received unrestricted Google research grants that
generally support 1-year projects that support me and a doctoral student.
Adobeโ When my doctoral students or I have collaborated with Adobe researchers,
they have given unrestricted gifts in support of my lab. This funding comes with
no strings attached.
Last updated 12/26/2025. To the extent
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