The Library and Information Science Department is pleased to welcome the following four scholars who will join the faculty this fall: Amelia Acker, Ali Motamedi, Jon Oliver, and Robert Wolfe.

“This year our department’s tenure-track hiring priorities centered on Archives and Preservation, and Artificial Intelligence; our non-tenure-track priorities centered on IT and Cybersecurity, and Information Visualization,” said Associate Professor and Chair of the Library and Information Science Department Rebecca Reynolds. “We are so excited to welcome Amelia Acker as our Archives hire, Robert Wolfe as our AI hire, Jon Oliver in Cybersecurity, and Ali Motamedi in information visualization. Our department is so fortunate to have attracted such talented, innovative scholars whose research will augment expertise in key areas of development for the department. We can’t wait to warmly welcome our new colleagues to campus, and for our students, especially, to benefit very soon from their arrival. We are grateful to the SC&I Dean's office, and all LIS faculty for their active engagement and support in this important search.”

LIS Faculty Members Joining the LIS Department in fall, 2025:

Two Tenure Track faculty:

Associate Professor Amelia Acker

Acker (she/her) most recently served as an Associate Professor in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin where she directed the Critical Data Studies Lab. She also served as the director of the MSIS program and the Graduate Advisor for the iSchool.

Acker’s  research is concerned with the emergence, standardization, and preservation of information. In particular, she studies the ways data is represented and managed over time. Currently, she is researching people who build and maintain data technologies, data archives, and information infrastructures that support long-term cultural memory. This research has been funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Science Foundation, Sloan Foundation and Ford Foundation, and the ACM History and Archiving Fellowship.

In November 2025, her book, Archiving Machines, will be published by MIT Press. The book examines the origins of data archives and computing processes of storage, exchange, and transmission. She argues that these data archiving processes shape the access regimes and data sovereignty we experience today.

Before joining UT, Acker worked as an archivist and librarian in Los Angeles. 

Acker earned a Ph.D. in Information Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Master of Library and Information Science also from UCLA, and a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature and Women’s Studies from the University of California, Irvine.

Assistant Professor Robert Wolfe

Wolfe (he/him) is joining SC&I from the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned a Ph.D. in Information Science. Wolfe also holds three master’s degrees: in Information Science from the University of Washington; in Computer Science from The George Washington University in Washington DC; and in English Literature from Georgetown University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Wolfe’s research develops approaches for understanding and creating fair, reliable, and transparent AI systems. His work has produced small-scale approaches to generative AI that offer an alternative to large, proprietary models; new ways of understanding the effects of generative technologies in information professions like fact-checking, with implications for the future of work; and foundational methods for identifying and quantifying AI biases, including in multimodal language-and-image models.

Wolfe’s collaborations have further considered questions such as how to effectively calibrate language models to estimate their confidence; how to reduce spurious correlations in computer vision; and how to develop more robust threat models for the impact of AI on individuals’ online privacy. He has also collaborated with social computing researchers on how to use AI and other technologies for good, including for furthering childhood and adolescent education, envisioning healthier alternatives for social media, and developing justice-oriented approaches to community safety technologies.

Two Non-Tenure Track Faculty:

Assistant Teaching Professor Ali Motamedi

Ali Motamedi (he/him) is an author, artist, and educator working at the intersection of computer science, digital communications, and visual culture. His work explores themes of language, immigration, and identity through text, image, and intangible media—conceptual frameworks. He blends technical and artistic methodologies to investigate interdisciplinary possibilities in cultural expression.

Since 2014, he has taught across disciplines in the U.S. and internationally, bringing a cross-sector approach to technology and the arts. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from The University of Akron, where he specialized in quantitative risk management using advanced statistical techniques, and an MFA in Visual Studies with a concentration in mixed media and technology from Hunter College, City University of New York.

Associate Teaching Professor Jon Oliver

Oliver (he/him), who has earned three degrees from Rutgers University: a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, and bachelor’s in Geological Science, Rutgers College and master’s degree in ceramic engineering, from the Rutgers School of Engineering, has served as chief of staff for the Office of the Chancellor at Rutgers–New Brunswick, as assistant dean for information technology for the School of Communication and Information, and chair of the Rutgers University Senate. In 1999, Oliver was honored with the university wide President’s Award for Excellence in Administration. Oliver’s research focuses on the microstructural characterization of materials via scanning electron microscopy utilizing deep learning Artificial Intelligence. At SC&I he will teach Network and Internet technologies and cybersecurity courses.

Learn more about the Library and Information Science Department at the Rutgers School of Communication on the website.