the international school of information science (isis) is a research institute affiliated to the ba. it acts as an incubator for digital and technological projects, thus promoting and nurturing innovation, which is the foundation of the ba's mission. guided by the goals of the ba, isis strives to preserve heritage for future generations in digital form, provide universal access to human knowledge, and promote the research and development of activities and projects related to building a universal digital library. isis received an award of merit and the outstanding civil engineering achievement (ocea) award from the american society of civil engineers in 2002.