Meet Our 2025 NISO Plus Scholarship Cohort
The NISO Plus Scholarship Program has been part of our NISO Plus Conference since the inception of the event in 2020. Thanks to the generous support of sponsors, the program has enabled over 70 emerging, mid-career, and small-organization professionals from across the globe—including India, Australia, Zimbabwe, and Brazil, among others—to actively participate in the conference.
It's a means of mutual enrichment. These scholars bring unique perspectives and experiences, fostering meaningful exchanges between new voices and established leaders in libraries, publishing, and technology vendors. The program exemplifies NISO’s commitment to welcoming diverse perspectives and advancing inclusion, equality, belonging, and accessibility in the scholarly communication ecosystem.
This year’s scholarship awardees are Danilo Reyes, Ashlea Green, and Gillian Equaras. Their expertise and aspirations contribute to the vibrancy of the NISO Plus community.
Danilo Reyes, originally from Chile and now based in Switzerland, manages digital services at the WIPO Knowledge Center within the World Intellectual Property Organization. “I am thrilled to be part of the NISO community,” Danilo shared. “I look forward to learning, sharing experiences, building collaborative networks, and generating new ideas for future projects.”
Ashlea Green, joining the conference from western North Carolina, is an Assistant Professor and Metadata Librarian at Appalachian State University. She specializes in cultural heritage and institutional repository metadata and is particularly eager to explore topics such as AI-driven improvements in metadata, ethical AI, user privacy, and open data repositories—critical areas in today’s scholarly communication landscape.
Gillian Eguaras, a Filipino librarian based in Toronto, Canada, works as a research librarian at McMillan LLP. With extensive experience in special libraries and a strong commitment to inclusivity, she relayed, “With the NISO Plus Baltimore 2025 conference providing ample discussion around artificial intelligence (AI), I am eager to contribute to the conversation and learn from other information professionals.”
The Scholarship Review Committee received numerous applications and identified additional worthy applicants who will be awarded participation in the upcoming NISO Plus Global Online conference. These participants gain access to the valuable virtual programming and benefit from joining the network of scholarship peers, further enriching the NISO Plus community. The will be identified and announced later this year.
We are grateful for the time, effort, and feedback provided by the Scholarship Review Committee that is composed of established community leaders, as well as Scholarship Award alumni.
Committee members include:
Amy Castillo ’21, University of Texas at Arlington
CJ Garcia ’24, Creighton University
Yuimi Hlasten ‘22, Denison University
Nataliia Kaliuzhna ’24, Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology
Emory LaPrade ’24, Johnson City Library
Angela Ecklund, Modern Language Association
Alice Meadows, MoreBrains
Russell Michalak ’22, Goldey-Beacom College
Merrilee Proffitt, OCLC
Sonali Sugrim ’23, Columbia University
Maria Smith ’24, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Also serving were NISO staff members, Mary Beth Barilla, Jason Griffey, and Kimberly Gladfelter Graham
The program’s success exists in the mutual enrichment it fosters. Scholarship recipients gain access to invaluable resources and networks, while the NISO Plus community benefits from their fresh ideas and perspectives. As the program enters its sixth year, it continues to transform professional trajectories and strengthen the broader information ecosystem. We look forward to its continued contributions and welcome to the 2025 NISO Plus Scholarship Awardees–Danilo, Ashlea, and Gillian!
