Meet the team: CKI members, ca 2014-2020

Christine L. Borgman

Principal Investigator

Christine L. Borgman, Distinguished Professor and Presidential Chair in Information Studies at UCLA, is the author of more than 250 publications in information studies, computer science, and communication. These include three books from MIT Press: Big Data, Little Data, No Data: Scholarship in the Networked World (2015), winner of the 2016 American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE Award) in Computing and Information Sciences; Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet (2007); and From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in a Networked World (2000). The latter two books won the Best Information Science Book of the Year award from the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST). She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Association for Computing Machinery; a member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; U.S. Co-Chair of the CODATA-ICSTI Task Group on Data Citation and Attribution; and previously served on the U.S. National Academies’ Board on Research Data and Information and the U.S. National CODATA. She received the Paul Evan Peters Award from the Coalition for Networked Information, Association for Research Libraries, and EDUCAUSE, and the Research in Information Science Award from ASIST. In 2004-2005 she was a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Internet Institute; in 2012-2013, she was an Oliver Smithies Fellow at Balliol College and a Visiting Scholar at both the Oxford Internet Institute and the Oxford eResearch Centre, University of Oxford. Prof. Borgman directs the Center for Knowledge Infrastructures at UCLA with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and other sources.

Bernie Boscoe

Doctoral Researcher, Alumna

Bernadette (Bernie) Boscoe was a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures, completing her PhD in 2019 under advisor Christine L. Borgman. She brought her expertise in computer science and mathematics to our studies of data and software relationships. Dr. Boscoe completed Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Information School at The University of Washington and in the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy. She is now a Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Occidental College.

Peter Darch

Assistant Professor, UIUC

Peter Darch is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Dr. Darch was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the UCLA Center for Information Studies from 2012 to 2015. He completed his DPhil in 2012 at the University of Oxford under advisor Marina Jirotka. He also holds an MA (Durham University).

Milena Golshan

Data Scientist and Project Manager, Alumna

Milena Golshan was the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures’ Data Scientist and Project Manager from 2014 to 2019. Milena holds MLIS degrees from UCLA and Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in Bulgaria. She is interested in open data, digital archiving, data analysis, management, and curation. Milena’s experience includes academic research support, qualitative data analysis, content management, and information architecture. Ms. Golshan is now Collection Information Specialist in Collection Information and Digital Assets at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Irene Pasquetto

Doctoral Researcher, Alumna

Irene Pasquetto was a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures, completing her PhD in 2018 under advisor Christine L. Borgman. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in “Communication Science” and a Masters Degree in “Journalism and Publishing Industry” both from Verona University (Italy). Irene’s research interests included open knowledge, open data and open science, especially their policy and economic implications. Dr. Pasquetto is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Shorenstein Center of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Dr. Pasquetto is now an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan.

Ashley Sands

Doctoral Researcher, Alumna

Ashley Sands was a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures, completing her PhD in 2017 under advisor Christine L. Borgman. Joining us from the field of Archaeology, she brought nearly a decade of experience working with scientific data. Sands dissertation research examined astronomy data management practices, revealing the expertise and infrastructures most appropriate for maximizing the utility of scientific data. Research methods included semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. Dr. Sands is now a Senior Program Officer at the Institute for Museum and Library Studies, a U.S. Federal agency in Washington, D.C.

Michael Scroggins

Postdoctoral Researcher

Michael Scroggins was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Knowledge Infrastructures from 2017 to 2020. He completed a PhD in Anthropology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 2020, he became a Lecturer in the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics.

Cheryl A. Thompson

Postdoctoral Researcher

Cheryl A. Thompson was a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Peter Darch at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois and the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures. She holds a PhD in Library and Information Science from University of Illinois and MS from University of North Carolina. Dr. Thompson is now a Research Data Archivist at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Sharon Traweek

Co-Principal Investigator, Alumna

Professor Traweek is the author of Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists (Harvard, 1988), which is used in courses worldwide as an exemplar of how to conduct ethnographic research on knowledge-making practices among scientists. Her many years of studying data practices in high-energy physics is essential expertise for the project’s studies of astronomy and astrophysics. Dr. Traweek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at UCLA.

Jillian Wallis

Postdoctoral Researcher, Alumna

Jillian Wallis was a graduate student researcher and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Center for Knowledge Infrastructures. She completed her PhD in 2012 at UCLA under advisor Christine L. Borgman. She is now the Research Data Administrator at the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and teaches data practices courses at UCLA as an adjunct instructor.

Morgan Wofford

Data Scientist and Project Manager, Alumna

Morgan Wofford was the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures’ project manager and data scientist from 2018 to 2020. She earned her MLIS degree from UCLA and Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation Biology from University of California, Davis. She is interested in data curation, information architecture, and biodiversity informatics. Ms. Wofford is now a PhD student in the Information School of the University of Michigan.