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Juli Hirt
 

PhD Candidate

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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ABOUT ME

Juli Hirt is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, specializing in the application of stochastic modeling for information technology infrastructure. She holds a Master of Information Science and Technology with a concentration in data management and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, where she focused on numerical analysis and game theory. With over nine years of industry experience as a data and analytics engineer, Juli combines her extensive practical knowledge with her academic expertise to explore innovative solutions in the field of data and technology.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Bridging the gap between theory and practice with a decade of expertise in data analytics and advanced mathematical modeling.

PhD Information Science

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

PhD candidate in Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, specializing in stochastic modeling of information technology architecture components.

Masters of Information Science & Technology

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Masters Thesis: A novel application of NLP for library chat systems.

Teaching assistant for Python and web framework courses.

Bachelor of Arts - Mathematics

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Bachelors Thesis: An application of numerical analysis to detect critical failure points in eSports matches.

Senior Data Engineer

West Bend Mutual

Designed and developed cost-conscious ingestion processes for centralized data stores.

Mentored team members in distributed computing paradigms and CI/CD practices.

Senior Analytics Engineer

Northwestern Mutual

Responsible for the design and development of data science pipelines for financial and marketing compliance.

Facilitated data pipeline migration from on-premise hardware to the cloud.

Adjunct Instructor

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Lead students through an experiential course in data management and information retrieval.

Mentored new IT professionals through independent projects and internships.

SKILLS & CERTIFICATIONS

Data Modeling & Analysis

Mentorship

Cloud Architecture

Research

PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

1 /

Cho, H., Lee, W.-C., Thach, H., & Hirt, J. (2025). Evaluating video game moods and their separability based on user-generated reviews. Journal of Documentation, 81(2), 545-565. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2024-0247
Access the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) deposited under CC BY-NC 4.0.

2 / 

Lee, W.-C., Huang, L.-M.C., & Hirt, J. (2025). Embracing emojis: Prototyping mood enhanced information systems for fiction readers. Journal of Documentation, 81(2), 313-329. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2024-0100
Access the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) deposited under CC BY-NC 4.0.

3 / 

Lee, W.-C., Huang, L.-M.C., & Hirt, J. (2024). From amused to 😆: Enriching mood metadata by mapping textual descriptors to emojis for fiction reading. Journal of Documentation, 80(2), 552-571. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-08-2023-0146

Refereed Conference Papers

1 / 

Hirt, J., & Lee, W.-C. [Accepted] Adventures and algorithms: AI and the evolution of TTRPG gameplay.  To be published In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS (Canadian Association for Information Science/Actes du congrès annuel de l’ACSI (ACSI). 

Posters

1 / 

Lee, W.-C., Hirt, J., & Cho, H. (2025). AI-assisted Creativity: Shaping Reader Perspectives and Evolving Information Needs. iConference 2025. Published open access in online repository https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126214

2 / 

Lee, W.-C., Hirt, J., & Adebayo, J. O. (2024, November). Unveiling Ethical Concerns in AI: Early Insights from a Systematic Review. AI Ethics Symposium: From Policy to Practice. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

3 / 

Lee, W.-C., Hirt, J. & Cho, H. (2024), From Fandom to Fadeaway: Unpacking Factors Contributing to Anime Dropout. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 61: 989-991. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1163

Data Sets

1 / 

Lee, W.-C., Huang, L.-M., & Hirt, J. (2023). Emojis and emotion categories for fiction. [Data set]. https://dc.uwm.edu/sois_facpubs/21

Contributions
to Grant-Funded Research

1 / 

Dungeons, dragons, and data: AI ethics in the realm of tabletop roleplaying

Funded by Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI) Student Scholars Program Award – Summer 2025 (May 27 – August 16, 2025) (Project Lead)

1 / 

Ethical AI and Librarianship: A Resource Guide 

Funded by American Library Association (ALA) Carnegie-Whitney Grant (2024) (August 1, 2024 – July 31, 2025)(Contributor)

2 / 

Ethical AI: Challenges and Opportunities

Funded by Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (NMDSI) Student Research Scholars Program Award (July – December, 2024)(Contributor)

TEACHING

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

1 / 

INFOST 410 - Database Information Retrieval Systems

 2 / 

INFOST 310 - Human Factors in Information Seeking and Use

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