Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
@maggie-melo.bsky.social
Assoc. Prof | Director of the Equity in the Making Lab (eitm.unc.edu) 🛠️✨ | Reimagining community-centered makerspaces and STEM environments | Co-author: Remaking the Library Makerspace (2020) | Amateur pumpkin grower 🎃
Pinned
✨️Makerspace Collective Starter Pack✨️
"Collective of researchers, workers, & educators dedicated to fostering creativity & innovation in diverse learning spaces across all skill levels and technologies."
LMK if you want to be added or removed.
go.bsky.app/AxW7R1x
"Collective of researchers, workers, & educators dedicated to fostering creativity & innovation in diverse learning spaces across all skill levels and technologies."
LMK if you want to be added or removed.
go.bsky.app/AxW7R1x
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
Breaking: We’ve talked to multiple individuals who have confirmed that UNC-CH is merging SILS (library and information science) and SDSS (data science and society). Announcement will be tomorrow morning. Faculty were not consulted.
October 8, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Breaking: We’ve talked to multiple individuals who have confirmed that UNC-CH is merging SILS (library and information science) and SDSS (data science and society). Announcement will be tomorrow morning. Faculty were not consulted.
I'm recruiting a graduate student for Fall 2026 to join a new research program that I am leading as PI.
This 3-year project, funded through the NSF’s ER2 program, explores how first-generation STEM students use generative AI tools for academic help-seeking.
Interested? Let's chat!
This 3-year project, funded through the NSF’s ER2 program, explores how first-generation STEM students use generative AI tools for academic help-seeking.
Interested? Let's chat!
July 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I'm recruiting a graduate student for Fall 2026 to join a new research program that I am leading as PI.
This 3-year project, funded through the NSF’s ER2 program, explores how first-generation STEM students use generative AI tools for academic help-seeking.
Interested? Let's chat!
This 3-year project, funded through the NSF’s ER2 program, explores how first-generation STEM students use generative AI tools for academic help-seeking.
Interested? Let's chat!
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
There is zero excuse for any conference not to be fully hybrid anymore.
I get that there are advantages to being ‘in the room’ but there are SO MANY reasons people may not be willing or able to travel that we are just punishing folks who can’t.
I get that there are advantages to being ‘in the room’ but there are SO MANY reasons people may not be willing or able to travel that we are just punishing folks who can’t.
June 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
There is zero excuse for any conference not to be fully hybrid anymore.
I get that there are advantages to being ‘in the room’ but there are SO MANY reasons people may not be willing or able to travel that we are just punishing folks who can’t.
I get that there are advantages to being ‘in the room’ but there are SO MANY reasons people may not be willing or able to travel that we are just punishing folks who can’t.
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
🧪 If you had your NSF grant terminated, I'd *highly* recommend going to this Friday's webinar.
Friday May 9 at 2-3 pm ET
Will talk about both the appeals process, in addition to allowable closeout costs. Share widely.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Friday May 9 at 2-3 pm ET
Will talk about both the appeals process, in addition to allowable closeout costs. Share widely.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
May 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
🧪 If you had your NSF grant terminated, I'd *highly* recommend going to this Friday's webinar.
Friday May 9 at 2-3 pm ET
Will talk about both the appeals process, in addition to allowable closeout costs. Share widely.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Friday May 9 at 2-3 pm ET
Will talk about both the appeals process, in addition to allowable closeout costs. Share widely.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
www.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:58 PM
BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
"At present, no miracle has happened. The WIU Librarians will be gone in under a month, as our layoffs take effect May 14."
Western Illinois University will attempt to be a university without a library.
It doesn't take a red state to destroy a public good.
savewiulibrarians.org/message.php
Western Illinois University will attempt to be a university without a library.
It doesn't take a red state to destroy a public good.
savewiulibrarians.org/message.php
savewiulibrarians.org -- Message -- Spring 2025
savewiulibrarians.org
April 25, 2025 at 8:04 PM
"At present, no miracle has happened. The WIU Librarians will be gone in under a month, as our layoffs take effect May 14."
Western Illinois University will attempt to be a university without a library.
It doesn't take a red state to destroy a public good.
savewiulibrarians.org/message.php
Western Illinois University will attempt to be a university without a library.
It doesn't take a red state to destroy a public good.
savewiulibrarians.org/message.php
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
🚨 NEW: Crowdsourced database of #NSF grant terminations. 🚨
We've been able to collect info on >110 cancelled grants that were cancelled on Friday. Thanks to all the researchers who reported over the holiday weekend. 🧪 airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
We've been able to collect info on >110 cancelled grants that were cancelled on Friday. Thanks to all the researchers who reported over the holiday weekend. 🧪 airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
Airtable | Everyone's app platform
Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.
airtable.com
April 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
🚨 NEW: Crowdsourced database of #NSF grant terminations. 🚨
We've been able to collect info on >110 cancelled grants that were cancelled on Friday. Thanks to all the researchers who reported over the holiday weekend. 🧪 airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
We've been able to collect info on >110 cancelled grants that were cancelled on Friday. Thanks to all the researchers who reported over the holiday weekend. 🧪 airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
I've now seen multiple examples of the termination email from NSF and all have used the exact same language as this:
Here's a copy of an NSF grant termination notice that went out today. "NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant...on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities." Not subject to appeal. #HigherEd #AcademicSky
![Text of email: Dear [redacted],
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has undertaken a review of its award portfolio. Each award was carefully and individually reviewed, and the agency has determined that termination of certain awards is necessary because they are not in alignment with current NSF priorities. Effective immediately, the following are terminated: [redacted]
NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant to NSF Grant General Conditions (GC-1) term and condition entitled Termination and Enforcement; on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities. This is the final agency decision and not subject to appeal. Costs incurred as a result of this termination may be reimbursed, provided such costs would otherwise be allowable under the terms of the award and the governing cost principles. In accordance with your award terms and conditions, you have 30 days from the termination date to furnish a summary of progress under the award and an itemized accounting of allowable costs incurred prior to the termination date.
Sincerely, [redacted] Division Director
Office of Budget Finance and Award Management (BFA)
Division of Grants and Agreements (DGA)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:l3jbgdl7a5rtsfyrgjw7spkz/bafkreif3rmsl6htpibxg3loqsuazljaekd636abaavvfm4nkjplr5e6itu@jpeg)
April 19, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I've now seen multiple examples of the termination email from NSF and all have used the exact same language as this:
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
🚨Report your NSF grant terminations! 🚨
We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
April 19, 2025 at 12:11 AM
🚨Report your NSF grant terminations! 🚨
We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
A reminder that NSF is explicitly breaking the law if/when they attempt to cancel grants that focus on promoting participation in science by underrepresented groups on that basis, incl women in science programs like NSF ADVANCE. Congress expressly directs the NSF to grant funds for this purpose. 🧪
LAWLESS NSF:
Every NSF employee who is following the director on this funding freeze and fishing expedition is in violation of US code.
per the post below, this language has been reauthorized twice, most recently by Biden in 2022 as the CHIPS Act.
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...
🧪
Every NSF employee who is following the director on this funding freeze and fishing expedition is in violation of US code.
per the post below, this language has been reauthorized twice, most recently by Biden in 2022 as the CHIPS Act.
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...
🧪
April 18, 2025 at 11:51 PM
A reminder that NSF is explicitly breaking the law if/when they attempt to cancel grants that focus on promoting participation in science by underrepresented groups on that basis, incl women in science programs like NSF ADVANCE. Congress expressly directs the NSF to grant funds for this purpose. 🧪
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
If you have (or had) and IMLS, NEH, or NSF grant you need to talk to your campus leadership now about what happens when you get doxxed.
April 3, 2025 at 11:08 PM
If you have (or had) and IMLS, NEH, or NSF grant you need to talk to your campus leadership now about what happens when you get doxxed.
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
JUST IN: The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.
Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave
The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.
www.npr.org
March 31, 2025 at 8:40 PM
JUST IN: The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
Invisible Histories is looking for volunteers who can assist with documenting and preserving information from DEIA offices that have been closed or are facing closure. Read more and sign up here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Closed DEIA Offices Volunteer Project
READ ALL OF THIS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT THE FORM
We are in the process of trying to save what remains of closed and closing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility offices throughout the US. We ha...
docs.google.com
February 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Invisible Histories is looking for volunteers who can assist with documenting and preserving information from DEIA offices that have been closed or are facing closure. Read more and sign up here:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I’m excited to deliver a keynote at the Library Makerspaces Research Showcase on 2/28!
My talk, “What First-Time Users Can Teach Us About Makerspace Design and Experience,” will explore how space design and first impressions shape engagement.
Join! More info here: go.illinois.edu/LMRS
My talk, “What First-Time Users Can Teach Us About Makerspace Design and Experience,” will explore how space design and first impressions shape engagement.
Join! More info here: go.illinois.edu/LMRS
Library Makerspaces Research Showcase Registration
Friday, 2/28/2025, 10am - 4pm CST, Zoom
Join us for the Library Makerspaces Research Showcase, a free one-day online event highlighting the breadth of research and scholarship on library makerspaces. ...
go.illinois.edu
February 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I’m excited to deliver a keynote at the Library Makerspaces Research Showcase on 2/28!
My talk, “What First-Time Users Can Teach Us About Makerspace Design and Experience,” will explore how space design and first impressions shape engagement.
Join! More info here: go.illinois.edu/LMRS
My talk, “What First-Time Users Can Teach Us About Makerspace Design and Experience,” will explore how space design and first impressions shape engagement.
Join! More info here: go.illinois.edu/LMRS
1. Casey is awesome to work with!
2. I'm on the search committee -- feel free to DM with questions. 😊
2. I'm on the search committee -- feel free to DM with questions. 😊
Come work with me! UNC Chapel Hill SILS is hiring at the Associate Professor level in our Archives and Record Management program. unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/296...
Associate Professor - Archives and Record Management (ARM)
The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites nominations and applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the Associate Profes...
unc.peopleadmin.com
February 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
1. Casey is awesome to work with!
2. I'm on the search committee -- feel free to DM with questions. 😊
2. I'm on the search committee -- feel free to DM with questions. 😊
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
From @aaup.bsky.social, what to do if ICE is on your campus.
January 31, 2025 at 11:12 PM
From @aaup.bsky.social, what to do if ICE is on your campus.
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
Call for Proposals is Still Open!
Join educators, designers, researchers, and funders exploring the intersection of play, making, and learning.
Share your creative work! #makered #tinkering #makerspace
Deadline: March 7, 2025
Submit proposal: go.wisc.edu/PMLsubmit
Join educators, designers, researchers, and funders exploring the intersection of play, making, and learning.
Share your creative work! #makered #tinkering #makerspace
Deadline: March 7, 2025
Submit proposal: go.wisc.edu/PMLsubmit
January 31, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Call for Proposals is Still Open!
Join educators, designers, researchers, and funders exploring the intersection of play, making, and learning.
Share your creative work! #makered #tinkering #makerspace
Deadline: March 7, 2025
Submit proposal: go.wisc.edu/PMLsubmit
Join educators, designers, researchers, and funders exploring the intersection of play, making, and learning.
Share your creative work! #makered #tinkering #makerspace
Deadline: March 7, 2025
Submit proposal: go.wisc.edu/PMLsubmit
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
I am one of these NSF postdocs. NSF has frozen everyone’s access to their salaries and research stipends (that were already awarded) with no information about when they might be expected to be unfrozen. It still appears like we are expected to continue doing our work though.
Apparently all the PhD researchers holding prestigious NSF-funded research fellowships are having their salaries withheld until some unspecified time when the leadership figures out how to eliminate any grant funding that doesn’t align with the president’s political ideology.
It’s official: all funding requests made on Tuesday by postdocs for their salaries have been unilaterally rejected by NSF.
January 31, 2025 at 12:43 AM
I am one of these NSF postdocs. NSF has frozen everyone’s access to their salaries and research stipends (that were already awarded) with no information about when they might be expected to be unfrozen. It still appears like we are expected to continue doing our work though.
Attention undergrads! Applications are open for UNC’s MEDAL REU: 8-week summer program for independent, mentor-guided research on well-being across the lifespan.
Apply by 3/10! More info: medal.unc.edu
Delighted to be invited by the PI Dr. @shaunacooper.bsky.social to join as a faculty mentor!
Apply by 3/10! More info: medal.unc.edu
Delighted to be invited by the PI Dr. @shaunacooper.bsky.social to join as a faculty mentor!
REU: Multidisciplinary and Engaged Approaches to the Study of Development and Adaptation across the Lifespan (MEDAL)
medal.unc.edu
January 24, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Attention undergrads! Applications are open for UNC’s MEDAL REU: 8-week summer program for independent, mentor-guided research on well-being across the lifespan.
Apply by 3/10! More info: medal.unc.edu
Delighted to be invited by the PI Dr. @shaunacooper.bsky.social to join as a faculty mentor!
Apply by 3/10! More info: medal.unc.edu
Delighted to be invited by the PI Dr. @shaunacooper.bsky.social to join as a faculty mentor!
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
Learn more and participate in data rescue and preservation efforts with the change in administration: blog.ucsusa.org/dminovi/thre...
January 21, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Learn more and participate in data rescue and preservation efforts with the change in administration: blog.ucsusa.org/dminovi/thre...
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
Interested in learning more about Digital Humanities and how it fits into librarianship? @pollock.bsky.social is teaching the LibraryJuice course on this very topic. (Would be great for early-career librarians and grad students) libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/...
Introduction to Digital Humanities for Librarians - Library Juice Academy
Digital humanities (DH) has been firmly established as a field with many subfields from Black DH to digital history and digital literary studies. One of the hallmarks of digital humanities is its tran...
libraryjuiceacademy.com
January 21, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Interested in learning more about Digital Humanities and how it fits into librarianship? @pollock.bsky.social is teaching the LibraryJuice course on this very topic. (Would be great for early-career librarians and grad students) libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/...
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
I created a partial bibliography on Saturation in Qualitative Research:
drive.google.com/file/d/1PUPm...
#RPVQual #RPVMethods
drive.google.com/file/d/1PUPm...
#RPVQual #RPVMethods
SATURATION IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH - Partial Bibliography.pdf
drive.google.com
December 19, 2024 at 6:55 PM
I created a partial bibliography on Saturation in Qualitative Research:
drive.google.com/file/d/1PUPm...
#RPVQual #RPVMethods
drive.google.com/file/d/1PUPm...
#RPVQual #RPVMethods
Reposted by Maggie Melo 🇵🇭 is researching community-centered making
So the churn goes pretty fast here on Blu? I haven't seen it anywhere here so I'll post:
New CFP from Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Reflections and Speculations on Critical Librarianship.
cjal.ca/index.php/ca...
New CFP from Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Reflections and Speculations on Critical Librarianship.
cjal.ca/index.php/ca...
CJAL Special Issue: Reflections and Speculations on Critical Librarianship
| Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship
cjal.ca
December 10, 2024 at 3:02 AM
So the churn goes pretty fast here on Blu? I haven't seen it anywhere here so I'll post:
New CFP from Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Reflections and Speculations on Critical Librarianship.
cjal.ca/index.php/ca...
New CFP from Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Reflections and Speculations on Critical Librarianship.
cjal.ca/index.php/ca...