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Biography / Positions / Education
Chris is a senior research scientist at the University of Washington’s Information School’s Technology & Social Change Group. Previously, Chris was a Senior Program Officer for the Global Libraries program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior roles include grants management at the Texas State Library & Archives Commission and technology management at the Texas Library Association. Chris also served in multiple roles from 1997 – 2006 in the US Library Program at the Gates Foundation. His research interests include how public libraries support cultivating, producing, and sustaining local knowledge; how public libraries participate in and leverage open data ecosystems for the benefit of their communities; and how serendipity happens in the intersections of physical and digital spaces in which public libraries operate. He also still regales his 3 children with dreams of packing up the library gig and taking over the hot corner for the Cincinnati Reds. Chris holds an MLIS from University of Michigan and BA from University of Oklahoma.
Research Areas
Education
Publications
Grants and Awards
ALA (2022)
Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal)E-Rate Commitments: Utilization, Trends, and Impacts on Public Libraries, 2016-2020 (2021)
Funder: American Library Association (ALA)Amount: $29,839Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal), Bree Norlander (Co-Principal), Jason Young (Co-Principal)The Community Archives Center for Tacoma (2021)
Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through Tacoma Public Library (Total award: $247,545)Amount: $56,423Collaborators: Jason Young (Principal), Marika Cifor (Co-Principal), Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal)Co-designing for Trust: Reimagining Online Information Literacies with Underserved Communities (2021)
Funder: National Science Foundation (NSF) (Total award: $5,000,000)Amount: $2,740,223Collaborators: Jason Young (Principal), Jevin West (Co-Investigator), Katharine Davis (Co-Investigator)Digital Navigators Program (2021)
Funder: Washington State Office of Minority and Women’s Business EnterprisesAmount: $34,157Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal), Stacey Wedlake (Co-Principal)Digital Literacy Skills (2020)
Funder: Seattle Jobs InitiativeAmount: $5,000Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal)Exploring Physically Distant Technology Access and Assistance to Support Workers in a New Economy (2020)
Funder: University of Washington Population Health InitiativeAmount: $18,699Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal), Stacey Wedlake (Co-Principal), Matthew Houghton (Co-Principal), Meghan Sebold (Co-Principal), David Keyes (Co-Principal), Ryan Davis (Co-Principal)Leveraging Use of Open Data by Public Library Staff for Community Benefit (2020)
Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)Amount: $100,000Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal), Bree Norlander (Co-Principal)Presentations
TPRC2021: The Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy. - Virtual
iConference 2021 - Beijing, China
3rd African Library & Information Associations & Institutions (AfLIA) Conference & 5th African Library Summit - Nairobi
Public Library Association Conference - Philadelphia, PA