About

Hello, world! I’m Jana (pronounced /dʒænə/), a PhD student in Information Science at the University of Illinois. Co-advised by Ted Underwood and Zoe LeBlanc, I work at the intersections of fields like natural language processing, machine learning, and cultural analytics.

My research has been federally funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) since 2019, when I was a graduate student at McGill University. I’m the founder of and editorial director for the Women of Letters interview series, which Eden Friesen and I will be launching in May. Together with Miranda Hickman, I’m co-authoring a book that will be published by Routledge.

As a Croatian-Canadian studying in the U.S., I divide my time among the three countries. You can get in touch with me here.


News and updates:

  • Feb. 2023: Launched the website for the Women of Letters interview series
  • Jan. 2023: Published Context is king: A prediction about the future of ChatGPT and other AI chatbots
  • Nov. 2022: Signed a book contract with Routledge
  • Oct. 2022: Published a pre-registration for a current project on scholarly writing in the humanities
  • May 2022: Research featured in an article published by the University of Illinois’ School of Information Sciences
  • May 2022: Published a co-authored white paper with the Community Data Clinic
  • Feb. 2022: Awarded a Lucile Huntington Wilkinson Memorial Scholarship from the University of Illinois
  • Nov. 2021: Invited to give a guest lecture (“Sentiment Analysis: What Is It, and How Can It Be Used?”) at the University of Illinois’ School of Information Sciences
  • Sep. 2021: Completed the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate program
  • Sep. 2021: Featured on the ‘Research Radar’ series with an interview by Gabrielle Machnik-Kekesi
  • Aug. 2021: Awarded sponsorship to attend the 2021 Grace Hopper Celebration Conference