KEYNOTE

Rachel Fundator is a clinical assistant professor at the Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies. Her teaching and research focuses on helping students learn to use information to navigate the complexities of today’s information environment and be successful in their future endeavors.

As the Associate Director for the Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue, she oversees programs and projects aimed to foster a research community that explores how information literacy can address societal information challenges, such as mis and disinformation, the proliferation  of AI technologies affecting everyday information information needs, and more. She created and teaches a year-long undergraduate research program within the Institute that empowers undergraduate students from across academic disciplines to be part of this research community. In the program, student researchers carry out original research about societal information challenges and explore the role information literacy can play in helping the public better understand and navigate these challenges. 

Professor Fundator is a 2025 Project Information Literacy Research Scholar, where she will leverage the climate change data dashboard to design a new research study that digs deeper into the complexities of undergraduate students’ attitudes, actions, and use of information around climate change.

Education: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, MSLIS (2015) and BA in art history (2011)