Work with top faculty in the field of information, while conducting original research and preparing for careers in academia, government, and industry.

About the Program

The School of Information is a multidisciplinary department where faculty researchers focus on many aspects of information organization, management, or use and its impact on individuals and society. Our broadly trained and diverse faculty and students work towards establishing and advancing what we know about information amid massive digital shifts in contemporary society. These foci range from the philosophies of information, information ethics and policy, and studies of digital literacy or digital archives, to computational social science, data science, machine learning, human-computer interaction, game development, and information retrieval or text mining.

Beyond the wide methodological spectrum represented by the faculty, and alongside a broad commitment to issues of diversity and inclusion, much of the research happening in the iSchool focuses on behavior and related human factors across sectors of life, to include economic or business contexts, education, health, and art. Our Ph.D. in Information program is a main campus only program and prepares students for careers in which they conduct original research in academia, government, and industry.

Calculate Cost

To calculate the cost of your education, please visit the Tuition Calculator at the University of Arizonas' website.

Areas of Expertise

We seek students with interests that match our faculty expertise in the following areas:

• Machine learning, natural language processing and text retrieval
• Social network analysis, computational social science
• Virtual reality, game development/design and human-computer interaction
• Information sharing, mediated interaction and interdisciplinary or virtual teams
• Information policy, ethics, economics or the philosophy of information
• Online communities and social experiences with emerging information technologies
• Information management, multimodal collections from acquisition through preservation and archives/archival studies
• Learning sciences and cyberlearning

Ph.D. Competencies

1. Demonstrate deep and broad knowledge of student’s field of study.
2. Critically analyze published research results in student’s area of study.
3. Conduct ethically responsible original research on a significant problem in information.
4. Effectively communicate and defend results of research to peers and broader scientific audiences.

Career Pathways

The Ph.D. will prepare you for research and teaching careers within higher education, as well as high-level positions in government and private industry, such as:

• Senior software engineer
• Senior research scientist
• User experience engineer
• Data scientist
• Information architect
• Product manager
• Health informatics specialist
• Interactive designer
• Business analyst
• Front-end developer
• Machine learning engineer
• Consultant
• Library director
• Archivist
• Data curator

Benefits for Our Students

We offer our Ph.D. students:

• Renowned faculty with a broad array of research interests and specialties
• An interdisciplinary and transdisciplinarity focus
• Graduate funding through assistantships, fellowships, and teaching opportunities
• Access to research centers, maker spaces, and other facilities
• Travel and research funding opportunities

Diversity & Inclusion

At the University of Arizona, we value our inclusive climate because we know that diversity in experiences and perspectives is vital to advancing innovation, critical thinking, solving complex problems, and creating an inclusive academic community. We translate these values into action by seeking individuals who have experience and expertise working with diverse students, colleagues, and constituencies. Because we seek a workforce with a wide range of perspectives and experiences, we encourage diverse candidates to apply including people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. As an Employer of National Service, we also welcome alumni of AmeriCorps, Peace Corps and other national service programs, and others who will help us advance our Inclusive Excellence initiative aimed at creating a university that values student, staff, and faculty engagement in addressing issues of diversity and inclusiveness.

Contact Us

Department Admission and Application Questions
si_info@arizona.edu

520-621-3567