In May, Assistant Professor Chad Hall traveled to Vienna, Austria, to present at the International Institute for Information Design's (IIID) VisionPlus 2026 conference and accept the Peter Simlinger Prize. The prestigious award honors the founder of IIID and celebrates his vision that “data transformed into information empowers people.” Selected from more than 200 entries spanning 32 countries, the prize is awarded to a single project that best exemplifies information design's potential to inform and empower the public.

Hall's award-winning project, USAFacts: A Scalable Visualization System for an Informed Public, was recognized for its innovative approach to transforming complex public data into accessible information, helping support an informed public. The project is featured in the 2026 IIID Awards publication and will be included in an international exhibition tour.

Hall was also recently named an inaugural Google Higher Education AI Faculty Fellow. The fellowship brings together a global cohort of university faculty advancing the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into teaching, research, and institutional innovation. The program will launch later this summer.

Hall is an Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design at the School of Art + Art History + Design and a 2016 Master of Design alum.