About Me

I'm Miranda Downey, a third-year student in the Doctor of Philosophy in Information Studies program at the University of Maryland College of Information. My research focuses on the information behaviors, needs, and experiences of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities with a focus on women with autoimmune diseases. In addition to my doctoral studies, I'm the instructor of four sections of INST 352 (Information User Needs and Assessment). I'm also a research assistant in a multi-disciplinary research project headed by my advisor Dr. Beth St. Jean called Investigating the Information Practices of COVID Long-Haulers, where we've explored the information needs, practices, and experiences of people who have long COVID.

I completed the University of Maryland's Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program in December of 2022, where I primarily focused on medicine and public health in relation to libraries and user information experiences. I would like to explore those topics further in my Ph.D. research, through which I hope to bring awareness to the information-related plight of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities and inform on potential solutions that may be implemented to lessen this burden and mitigate challenges.

I hold a Bachelor's degree from Towson University in Art History with a focus on pre-modern art research. As an undergraduate, I also took a course at Richmond, The American International University in London on the History of London.

In my free time, I enjoy going on Wikipedia deep dives, watching video essays on YouTube, going to museums, and spending time with my pets, which include a guinea pig and sixteen chickens (three of which lay blue eggs).