Kenji Sagae

Kenji Sagae is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Davis, with additional affiliations in the Computer Science graduate program, Cognitive Science program, and Computational Social Science designated emphasis. He leads the Computational Linguistics Laboratory and has held academic positions at the University of Southern California and the University of Tokyo. He earned his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute in 2006.

His research spans computational linguistics, natural language processing, and cognitive science, focusing on syntactic parsing, child language development, bias in language models, and applications in healthcare and social science. He has developed data-driven models for parsing, dialogue systems, and automated measurement of language development. His work integrates machine learning, cognitive modeling, and interdisciplinary applications.

The most recent publications reflect a strong trend toward neural models for parsing and language understanding, analysis of child language development using modern NLP techniques, exploration of bias and demographic factors in language models, and interdisciplinary work bridging neuroscience and computational linguistics. There is a clear progression from classical parsing methods to deep learning and broader cognitive and social implications of language technology.

• General Chair, 16th International Conference on Parsing Technologies (IWPT 2020)
• General Chair, 15th International Conference on Parsing Technologies (IWPT 2017)
• Secretary, ACL SIGPARSE (2020–present)
• Information Officer, ACL SIGPARSE (2005–2020)
• Associate Editor, ACM TALLIP (2015–present)
• Senior/Area Chair for ACL, NAACL, EMNLP, and others
• NSF Panel Member (2018, 2010)

Kenji Sagae has advised numerous PhD and master’s students in linguistics and computer science, including Dian Yu, Zoey Liu, and Justin Garten. He has secured substantial research funding from NSF, ARO, DARPA, Google, and other agencies, supporting projects such as TrOnto (trustworthy scientific cyberspace), Soliloquy (dialogue agents), and models of human communication dynamics. His lab fosters interdisciplinary collaboration across computer science, psychology, and neuroscience.

He runs the Computational Linguistics Laboratory at UC Davis, which focuses on developing and evaluating NLP systems for parsing, dialogue, language development, and social applications. The lab emphasizes both technical innovation and real-world impact, particularly in education, healthcare, and ethical AI.