Bryan Gick

Bryan Gick is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Arts, where he directs the UBC Integrated Speech Research Laboratory (ISRL) and co-directs UBC Language Sciences. He holds additional affiliations as a Senior Researcher at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, CT, and as an Associate Member of the UBC Department of Psychology and UBC School of Audiology & Speech Sciences.

His educational background includes a Ph.D. (1999), M.Phil. (1997), and M.A. (1995) from Yale University, and a B.A. (1992) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Gick's research centers on understanding how the human body functions as a communication device, focusing on physical mechanisms of movement control and sensation in speech production, perception, and phonetics. His work spans normal and disordered speech, children's speech development, signed languages, singing, and emotional expression. He has pioneered techniques for applying ultrasound imaging to speech research and developed protocols for studying haptic and multimodal perception of speech.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on tongue bracing phenomena, speech biomechanics, neurological bases of speech production, and applications to clinical conditions including Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's. His research increasingly incorporates cross-disciplinary approaches from neuroscience, biomechanics, and computer modeling.

His significant scientific recognition includes:

• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC)
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Gick leads multiple research initiatives including the UBC Integrated Speech Research Laboratory and contributes to the ArtiSynth project for biomechanical simulation of speech. His work connects theoretical linguistics with practical applications in speech pathology, language learning, and human-computer interaction.