Marty Gengenbach and Elliott Hauser, Master’s students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science (SILS), have been awarded scholarships to attend the Managing Electronic Records Conference (MER) in Chicago May 23-25, which focuses on legal, technical and operational issues associated with managing electronic records.
The scholarships, funded by MER sponsors Cohasset Associates, are awarded each year to one or two students from a select set of library and information schools. The awards cover the cost of the conference registration fee, several meals and receptions. In return, scholarship winners arrive at MER a day early and help run the conference. This is the sixth year that Cohasset Associates awarded scholarships to two SILS students.
Gengenbach and Hauser received the awards after submitting essays discussing why they wanted to attend the MER conference, what they hoped to learn at the conference and how attending the event fit into their career goals.
"I'm looking forward to MER as an opportunity to engage with a community of professionals from a diverse set of backgrounds who are operating at the cutting edge of the industry," said Gengenbach. "For a student like me, it's a chance to take what I've been learning at SILS and witness its practical application in the field."
Hauser echoed this sentiment. "I'm excited to attend the MER conference, one of the industry's leading professional events," he said. "It will be a great learning opportunity for me and a complement to my technology consulting internship at Accenture later this summer. Additionally, the event will tie into my research here at SILS, which seeks to model evidence-based content such as electronic health records or legal documents to assist discovery and decision support systems. Obtaining a deeper knowledge of how state-of-the-art systems are used in the field will help me understand current needs and tailor my work to complement existing solutions."
“I was able to attend MER when I was a Master’s student, and it was very influential on my views and understanding of the field,” said Dr. Cal Lee, assistant professor at SILS. “MER provides a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to people and ideas that they won’t get in other venues. I’m very excited that we’re able to carry on this tradition at SILS."
Photo: Elliott Hauser on the front steps of Manning Hall.
