My students and I receive funding from many sources.

The Information School logo
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.
The NSF logo.
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.
The Microsoft logo.
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.
The Google logo.
Googleโ€” In the past, I have received unrestricted Google research grants that generally support 1-year projects that support me and a doctoral student.
The Adobe logo.
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.

CC0 Last updated 11/16/2024. To the extent possible under law, Amy J. Ko has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to the design and implementation of Amy's faculty site. This work is published from the United States. See this site's GitHub repository to view source and provide feedback.