معرفی
Tom McCoy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Yale University, with additional affiliations in the Department of Computer Science and the Wu Tsai Institute. His interdisciplinary research bridges computational linguistics, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence to understand the computational principles underlying human language.
Dr. McCoy completed his PhD in Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University in 2021, where his graduate training emphasized interdisciplinary approaches to studying language acquisition from multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives.
McCoy's research centers on two primary strands: language learning mechanisms investigating how humans acquire language from minimal data and how these capabilities can be replicated in machines, and linguistic representations exploring what computational architectures can effectively model language structure. His work frequently employs neural network language models while maintaining strong connections to linguistic theory and cognitive science principles. He has published influential work on hierarchical inductive biases in sequence-to-sequence networks and generalization capabilities of neural networks with respect to center embeddings.
His recent publications reveal a research trajectory increasingly focused on the intersection of neural networks and cognitive science, examining inductive biases, Bayesian approaches to language learning, and the symbolic-subsymbolic debate in AI. His work appears in top venues including Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and leading AI conferences.
McCoy actively mentors the next generation of researchers, currently considering PhD applicants for Fall 2026 and postdoctoral researchers for Fall 2026. He maintains a selective research group focused on computational linguistics and cognitive AI, prioritizing quality mentorship and methodological rigor.
Though specific lab names aren't publicized, McCoy's research operates at the intersection of multiple departments at Yale, suggesting a collaborative environment where linguists, computer scientists, and cognitive scientists work together to tackle fundamental questions about language processing in both humans and machines.
