Torvik named 2016-2017 Centennial Scholar

Vetle Torvik
Vetle Torvik, Associate Professor

Assistant Professor Vetle Torvik has been named the iSchool's Centennial Scholar for 2016-2017. The Centennial Scholar award is endowed by alumni and friends of the School and given in recognition of outstanding accomplishments and/or professional promise in the field of library and information science.

Torvik expressed surprise and gratitude at receiving this honor. "I am in awe of colleagues who received it before me; their caliber is off the charts," he said. "I hope to use the award to open new doors—a stamp of approval from colleagues who know you well goes a long way to establish new collaborations necessary to solve the increasingly complex problems facing science and society today.”

Torvik joined the faculty in 2011. His current research addresses problems related to scientific discovery and collaboration using complex models and large-scale bibliographic databases. He is the author of articles in journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology; ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data; Trends in Genetics; and Research Policy. He teaches courses on text and data mining, statistical modeling, informetrics, and information processing.

Torvik's current projects include:

  • Innovation in an Aging Society, a multipartner project funded by the National Institutes of Health, for which he has built a suite of bibliographic data mining tools and datasets for studying the relationship between aging and innovation.
  • STEM Workforce Training: A Quasi-Experimental Approach Using the Effects of Research Funding, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and examines the impact of different research funding structures on the training of future scientists and their subsequent outcomes.
  • Computer-assisted text-mining across biomedical papers and patents for competitive intelligence, which is funded by Abbott Nutrition.

Torvik also has received NSF funding for Collaborative Research: DAT: From grant to commercialization. For this project, he developed a freely available database to trace, assess, and measure the impact of scientific funding—linking Medline papers and US patents to investigate how grants enable papers, papers influence patents, and scientific knowledge ultimately diffuses and influences the entire patent record.

"Vetle's brilliant work is a decisive demonstration of how information science can generate new insights from scientific and medical literature. We are very proud to have him here with us and are eagerly looking forward to equally exciting results from his future research," said Dean Allen Renear.

Prior to joining the iSchool, Torvik worked as a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a PhD in engineering science from Louisiana State University and a master's degree in operations research from Oregon State University, as well as a bachelor's degree in mathematics from St. Olaf College.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool alumni and adjunct named 2024 Movers & Shakers

Two iSchool alumni and an adjunct lecturer are included in Library Journal’s 2024 class of Movers & Shakers, an annual list that recognizes 50 professionals who are moving the library field forward as a profession. Tarida Anantachai (MSLIS ’11) was honored in the Change Agents category, Lissa Staley (MSLIS ’01) was honored in the Community Builders category, and Adjunct Lecturer Zachary Stier was honored in the Community Builders category.

Spectrum Scholar Spotlight: Ted Farias

Seventeen iSchool master’s students have been named 2023-2024 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MSLIS student Ted Farias earned his BA in psychology from California State University of Long Beach.

Ted Farias

iSchool researchers present at inaugural ASIS&T symposium

iSchool researchers will present their work at the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Midwest Chapter Spring Symposium on April 26. The inaugural symposium will include talks by seventeen researchers from ten institutions across the Midwest region.

iSchool researchers present at iConference 2024

The following iSchool faculty and students participated in the virtual portion of iConference 2024 from April 15-18. The in-person portion of the conference will be held in Changchun, China, from April 22-26. The theme of this year’s conference is "Wisdom, Well-being, Win-win."