Oliver Wendell Holmes Travel Award: Jiarui Sun

Jiarui Sun, a PhD student in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is the 2021 recipient of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Travel Award from the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The award enables international archivists who are training or studying in the United States or Canada to augment their experience by attending the SAA Annual Meeting.

Sun has impressive research experience and publication history and has received numerous awards, including the 2020 James V. Mink Scholarship from the Society of California Archivists. Before enrolling at UCLA, he earned a master’s degree in archival studies from Renmin University of China and a bachelor's degree in archival studies from Shandong University. His research interests include archival informatics, community-based archives, and qualitative research methods and design. At UCLA, Sun is researching ethical considerations triggered by new technology applications in archives, under the supervision of Professor Anne Gilliland, which he will present at the International Council on Archives’s 2021 conference in Abu Dhabi. The knowledge and experience from his education and professional conferences have become a precious asset to his understanding of history and technologies associated with archives and recordkeeping.

Attendance at SAA’s 2021 Annual Meeting will allow Sun to gain additional knowledge and skills for augmenting his PhD research, as well as network with colleagues he would otherwise never meet. Sun writes that “attending this conference will enable me to establish friendships and long-term cooperative relationships with many other archivists who share the same interests with me.”

Established in 1979, this award honors SAA Fellow and former President Oliver Wendell Holmes.