The Rutgers iSchool invites outstanding applicants for entry into our doctoral program. We invite applications of students from all backgrounds interested in pursuing research advancing the information field.
The LIS area of concentration in our interdisciplinary Ph.D. provides an excellent environment for research in such areas as Health Information and Technology; Human Information
Behavior; Human-Computer Interaction; Information Institutions, Artifacts, and Documents; Information Retrieval and Language Analysis; Learning, Education, and Technology; Social Computing and Data Science. Connecting these research foci are common threads: people and community; data, information, and knowledge; technologies, systems, and networks; and empowerment, engagement, and action. The school includes world-renowned faculty who are leading researchers and teach in these areas. Their accomplishments are reflected in a large pool of scholarly publications, awards and grants. Doctoral students include ALA Spectrum Fellows, Rutgers Diversity Fellows, and Fulbright Scholars. Our graduates have been placed in top academic institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of California, Irvine, the University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois as well as in a wide range of research, professional, business, and government settings.
The LIS Department is one of the founding iSchools, an international consortium of information schools dedicated to advancing the information field. Our interdisciplinary doctoral program in Communication, Information, and Media is in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, a leading national research university. Established in 1766, the university is the eighth oldest higher education institution in the United States. We are among the top 22 public universities, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. The university is a member of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the Association of American Universities and the Universities Research Association.
Our location in central New Jersey and close proximity to New York City and Philadelphia makes us ideally suited for scholars seeking to make significant contributions to the social development of individuals by understanding the links among people, information and technology. Our doctoral program is an ideal place to pursue ground-breaking research about information, technology, and people in one of the most intellectually and culturally diverse areas of the world.
Funded Ph.D. student opportunities include fellowships, and teaching, research, and graduate assistantships. Students may be able to join one of the research groups such as the Behavioral Informatics Lab. Generous travel support is available to all Ph.D. students at all stages of their study. Financial aid is available through part-time lecturer positions. We provide support in obtaining additional funding from external resources, such as the ALA’s Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship Program, or Fulbright Program. More financial information can be obtain here.
The application deadline for the fall 2020 term is January 5, with late applications to be considered at a May 1 deadline.
Students requesting financial aid must apply by January 5.
To apply, follow this link: https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/admissions/graduate/phd-program
This page also contains detailed information about the application process and the link for submitting your application.
We especially encourage students from historically and statistically underrepresented minority groups to apply.
Additional information about our Ph.D. program is at https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/academics/graduate/phd-program-communication-information-and-media