Prof. Anya Belz is Full Professor of Computer Science at Dublin City University's School of Computing and Science Lead at ADAPT Research Centre. A leading NLP researcher with PhD-level expertise, she specializes in natural language generation, evaluation methodologies, and multimodal systems. Recipient of multiple best paper awards and NAACL Test of Time Award nomination. Research innovations include foundational work on statistical language generation (deployed in weather forecasting systems), comparative evaluation frameworks, vision-language integration, and reproducibility quantification. Current EPSRC-funded ReproHum project coordinates 20 global labs studying evaluation consistency. Achievements : Developed industry-deployed generation systems for accessibility applications Pioneered cross-modal alignment techniques for image description Authored 100+ publications spanning generation, evaluation, and reproducibility
Jeremy Rau is a Professor of Linguistics and Classics at Harvard University's Department of Linguistics, part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies for Fall 2024 and is on leave for Spring 2025. His office is located in Boylston Hall, Cambridge, MA. Rau specializes in Greek and Latin historical linguistics with a particular focus on Homeric language, Indo-European linguistic systems, and Indo-Iranian comparative studies. His research explores ancient language structures, verb morphology, and diachronic phonological changes in pre-classical texts. Research Interests: Proto-Indo-European root analysis Mycenaean Greek linguistic features Homer's language and epic conventions Indo-Iranian comparative linguistics Verb derivation mechanisms Publications reflect deep engagement with ancient language structures, including studies on Mycenaean contract verbs, Homeric noun inflections, and Proto-Germanic lexicon. He has contributed to journals like Die Sprache , Glotta , and Historische Sprachforschung , as well as edited volumes such as Verba Docenti . Administratively, Rau oversees graduate programs and participates in departmental governance. His work bridges historical linguistics with philological scholarship, emphasizing systematic analysis of ancient language data.
Peter Gordon is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Education and Cognitive Science in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He directs the Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab and holds affiliations with Biobehavioral Sciences, Human Development, and other departments. His research focuses on language acquisition, developmental neuroscience, cross-cultural numerical cognition, and MRI-based studies of language processing. Dr. Gordon earned a B.A. (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Stirling (Scotland) and a Ph.D. in Psychology from MIT. His fieldwork includes extensive studies with the Piraha in Amazonia, Brazil, and the Kadiweu in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. His research interests span infant event representations, behavioral genetics of language, and the interplay between language structure and cognitive development. Notable contributions include work on anumeric cultures and the linguistic relativity hypothesis. Publications highlight cross-cultural studies, morphological processing, and cognitive neuroscience of language. He has conducted influential research on numerical cognition in Amazonian cultures and the genetic influences on language acquisition. Contact: pg328@tc.columbia.edu | Office: 1152 Building 528 | Lab: [Link Provided].
Frederick A. A. Kingdom is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, focusing on Perception, Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience . His research explores the interplay between early visual feature detection (edges, bars) and intermediate stages forming contours, textures, and surfaces through spatial vision, color vision, stereopsis, texture perception, brightness/lightness perception, and transparency studies . Email: fred.kingdom@mcgill.ca Key research domains include: Perceptual Mechanisms : Lateral inhibition, contrast normalization, spatial bandpass filters, and their role in brightness/lightness perception and illusions like simultaneous brightness contrast. Color Vision : Red-green vs blue-yellow system distribution, chromatic contrast requirements for stereopsis, color-based depth processing limitations, and color-shading effects that parse surfaces vs illumination. Texture Analysis : Detection thresholds for orientation/frequency/contrast modulated textures, co-circularity in texture perception, and texture statistical sensitivity (e.g., kurtosis importance). Shape Processing : Shape-frequency/shape-amplitude aftereffects, global vs local shape coding, and contour inflection adaptation. His work combines psychophysics , fMRI , image processing , and computational modeling to dissect visual system architecture, particularly how color and luminance signals are integrated/separated in early cortical processing.
Elsayed Issa is an Assistant Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures at Purdue University. Specializing in Computational Linguistics and Arabic, his interdisciplinary research bridges Natural Language Processing (NLP) with Second Language Acquisition (SLA), focusing on conversational AI and speech technology for under-resourced languages. Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Arizona (2023) Research integrates NLP, conversational AI, and SLA methodologies Develops tools for computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) Focuses on Arabic dialectology and large language models (LLMs) His work employs Transformer architectures and end-to-end machine learning to enhance language learning systems. Recent projects include ArabiBot development and dialect identification models. He specializes in speech-to-text systems , prosody modeling , and emotional speech analysis for Arabic language learning applications.
Oliver Bond is a Reader in Linguistics (Associate Professor) at the University of Surrey, affiliated with the Surrey Morphology Group (SMG) within the School of Literature & Languages. He holds a PhD from the University of Manchester and specializes in linguistic typology, morphology, syntax, and language documentation. His research focuses on the systemic properties of language, particularly in African and Himalayan languages, exploring features like agreement systems, case marking, and morphological complexity. Key roles include Deputy Director of SMG and PhD Coordinator. His research projects include studies on Nuer (South Sudan/Ethiopia), Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal, and prominent internal possessors. He has received a prestigious British Academy Award for his work on language evolution and analogy in morphological change. Bond supervises PhD students in areas such as morphology, syntax, and language documentation. Notable former students include Dávid Győrfi and Tatiana Reid. His publications span typological studies, language documentation, and theoretical morphology, with recent work on contact effects in Tibeto-Burman languages and negation systems in African languages. Bond’s contributions include collaborative projects like the Nuer Literacy Initiative and the Manang Languages Project. He actively publishes in journals like Journal of Linguistics and Linguistic Typology , and maintains a comprehensive resource, the Nuer Lexicon .
Mark Pollicott is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, where he has held positions since 1992 and 2005. He previously served at Edinburgh, Porto, and Manchester Universities, including a Fielden Chair. His research focuses on Thermodynamic Formalism, Ergodic Theory, and Dynamical Systems, with applications to geometry, number theory, and fractal analysis. Pollicott earned his BSc (1981) and PhD (1984) in Mathematics and Physics from Warwick, under the supervision of William Parry. He has held prestigious fellowships, including Royal Society and ERC grants, and organized major programs at the Newton Institute, CIB-Lausanne, and ICERM. He serves on editorial boards for journals like Nonlinearity and Journal of Fractal Geometry . His research explores topics such as fractal dimensions, geodesic flows, and validated numerics. Notable contributions include studies on the Hausdorff dimension of Cantor sets and Bernoulli convolutions. He has supervised 19 PhD students and mentored 18 postdoctoral researchers. Recent grants include EPSRC funding for computational ergodic theory and dynamical zeta functions. His work bridges pure mathematics with applications in geometry, analysis, and number theory. Awards: ERC Advanced Grant, EPSRC Leadership Fellowship, Royal Society Fellowships, Jean Morlet Chair Grants: EPSRC (2019-2025, 2026-2030), ERC (2019-2025) Collaborations: Co-organized programs on Thermodynamic Formalism and Dynamics at CIRM and Warwick
Anna Theakston is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Manchester where she holds the position of Head of Division for the Division of Psychology Communication and Human Neuroscience. She is also Co-director of the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD), a major research initiative focused on language development in children. Dr. Theakston completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Nottingham and earned her PhD through research at the University of Manchester on early language development in children aged 2-3 years. She subsequently coordinated the Manchester-based Max Planck Child Study Centre before being appointed to her current professorship. Her research focuses on children's early language and communicative development during preschool and early school years, situated within a usage-based framework that emphasizes child-environment interactions and caregiver input. Her work spans multiple areas including early gestural communication, caregiver-child interactions, grammatical construction acquisition, grammatical error origins, inflectional morphology, and syntax-semantics-pragmatics interfaces in complex language development. She frequently conducts crosslinguistic comparisons and employs diverse methodologies from corpus analysis to behavioral experiments, often collaborating with computational modelers. Analysis of her recent publications reveals strong emphasis on children's comprehension and production of complex sentence structures, particularly adverbial and complement clauses, with investigations into how information structure, iconicity, and pragmatic factors influence language development. Her work increasingly examines applications in real-world contexts including schools, nurseries, and cultural institutions, with growing attention to supporting deaf children's communication development and multilingual education. Co-Director, ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD) Active researcher with 111 research outputs including articles, datasets, and book chapters Recipient of research funding from ESRC and Max Planck Institute Professor Theakston supervises numerous PhD students investigating various aspects of language development, with recent projects examining tag questions, cultural institutions' role in language learning for minority populations, science interventions for deaf children, and Modern Foreign Language teaching in multilingual classrooms. Her research has practical impact through tools like the Teacher Toolkit for Teaching Primary MFL in Multilingual Key Stage 2 Classrooms and initiatives supporting deaf children's social communication skills. She maintains active collaborations with researchers across multiple disciplines and institutions, as evidenced by her extensive co-authorship network. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to quality education and reduced inequalities.
Viktória Dabóczi is a lecturer in the Department of German Studies at the University of Siegen, Faculty I. She holds a doctorate from the University of Siegen (2016) and has been actively involved in teaching and research in German linguistics since 2012. Her current academic role as AOR aZ (Akademische Oberrätin auf Zeit) began in June 2025, indicating a senior academic position. She teaches courses such as Introduction to German Linguistics, Grammatical Variation, and Language Acquisition. Research Interests: Her work focuses on word classes, spoken language, grammar theory, language acquisition, and lexical change in German, often with comparative insights from Hungarian. She investigates how words are conceptualized in speech and writing, the evolution of discourse markers, and grammatical variation in contemporary usage. The analysis of her recent publications (2005–2025) reveals a consistent focus on theoretical and applied German linguistics, with increasing attention to sociolinguistic phenomena such as pandemic-related neologisms and ideological word formations. Her research bridges empirical analysis, cognitive linguistics, and language teaching, often in interdisciplinary or contrastive frameworks. Reviewed works on German morphology and grammar Contributed to international projects like EuroGr@mm and ProGr@mm Participated in interdisciplinary conferences on ellipsis and language processing Advising and Grants: While no formal students are listed, her editorial and collaborative roles suggest mentorship and academic leadership. She has been involved in long-term research projects, including EuroGr@mm (2004–2012), indicating sustained grant-supported activity. Her current role at Siegen reflects ongoing institutional support for her research and teaching. Labs and Teams: She has collaborated with researchers at Justus Liebig University of Giessen, University of Szeged, and IDS-Mannheim. Her work with the Diskursmonitor research group and participation in interdisciplinary conferences highlight her integration into active research networks in German linguistics.
Adam Albright is a Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses on phonology, morphology, language acquisition, and computational linguistics. Education Ph.D. in Linguistics, UCLA, 2002. Dissertation: "The identification of bases in morphological paradigms" M.A. in Linguistics, UCLA, 1998. Thesis: "Phonological subregularities in productive and unproductive inflectional classes: Evidence from Italian" B.A. in Linguistics and Religious Studies, Cornell University, 1996. Senior Thesis: "The history of stress in Welsh, and the analysis of historical change in OT" Research Interests Albright's main research projects include: Experimental testing and computational modeling of gradient phonotactic well-formedness Investigating the organization of paradigms (base selection and learning) Testing the psychological reality of morphological processes via Wug tests Understanding paradigm gaps Computational modeling of historical change Collaboration with Bruce Hayes on learning algorithms He also has interests in Yiddish and Lakhota phonology and morphology, and the history of stress in Welsh. Teaching He has taught courses at MIT and UC Santa Cruz, including: Advanced Phonology Language Acquisition Sound Change and Phonological Theory Modeling Phonological Learning Language Change Computational Morphology & Phonology Collaborations Albright collaborates with Bruce Hayes (UCLA) on computational modeling of phonological and morphological learning. Contact Email: albright@mit.edu Office: 32-D830, MIT Mailing Address: MIT Linguistics and Philosophy, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 32-D808, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Lisa R. Pruitt is a Professor of Law at the UC Davis School of Law and holds the Brigitte Bodenheimer Research Scholar designation. She is also a Faculty Affiliate at the UC Davis Center for Poverty Research. Ph.D. (Laws) - University of London (1997) J.D. - University of Arkansas (1989) B.A. in Journalism - University of Arkansas (1986) Professor Pruitt's research focuses on the legal and policy implications of income inequality across the rural-urban continuum, legal aspects of declining mobility, and the intersection of law with rural livelihoods. Her work reveals how economic, spatial, and social features of rural locales shape residents' encounters with the law. Her recent scholarship explores critical whiteness studies within rural contexts, examining how rurality inflects dimensions of gender, race, and ethnicity. She challenges the conflation of rurality with whiteness while seeking a more nuanced understanding of rural and working-class whites in the Trump era. Professor Pruitt has received numerous accolades including the Rural Sociological Society Excellence in Research Award (2021) and the UC Davis 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award . She is an elected member of the American Law Institute (since 2018) and has served in leadership roles at the Rural Sociological Society. She previously worked internationally for nearly a decade with experience in cultural conflict negotiation across more than 30 countries. Her research has been cited in various media outlets including US News , Tulsa World , and Capital Public Radio .
Donca Steriade serves as the Class of 1941 Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she also holds the position of Communications Director for the linguistics section. Her research centers on phonology, morphology, and historical linguistics with specialized focus on Greek and Latin. Steriade has pioneered theoretical frameworks including the Perceptibility map (P-map) for understanding phonological markedness, while her morphological work explores paradigm uniformity, morphomes, and cyclicity across diverse languages. She integrates empirical data from classical languages with cutting-edge phonological theory. Steriade's recent publications (2015-2025) reveal consistent exploration of quantitative meters in Greek/Latin poetry, morphophonological cyclicity in Romanian, and paradigm structure in Sanskrit reduplication. Her work demonstrates sophisticated interplay between phonological constraints and morphological processes, often revealing universal patterns through cross-linguistic analysis of classical and modern languages. As Communications Director, she actively shapes the department's academic outreach and scholarly discourse within the linguistics community.
Christian Zimmer is a Professor of German Linguistics at Technische Universität Dortmund, specializing in variational linguistics with a focus on multilingual contexts. His academic journey includes a Habilitation (2021) and PhD (2016) from Freie Universität Berlin, and a state examination in German Studies, Philosophy, and Sport Science (2012) from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He has held substitute professorships at TU Dortmund (2019-2020) and Freie Universität Berlin (2022-2023) and led DFG projects on German in multilingual Southern Africa (2020-2022) and Namibia (2016-2019). His research explores German within multilingual environments, language change, corpus linguistics, and gender linguistics. Key projects include analyzing Namibian German (Namdeutsch) and the dynamics of German in African contexts. He uses corpus-based methods to study morphosyntactic variation, case systems, and sociolinguistic factors influencing language structure. Zimmer’s publications address topics such as genitive case reduction, loanword integration, and gender correlations in phonology. His work bridges theoretical linguistics and applied sociolinguistics, contributing to understanding language vitality and contact dynamics in minority speech communities.
Mona Awad serves as an Esther M. Larsen Faculty Fellow in the Humanities and Assistant Professor in the English Department at Syracuse University. An acclaimed novelist and creative writing instructor, she has established herself as a significant voice in contemporary literary fiction with a focus on horror, fairy tales, and feminist narratives. Her academic journey includes a Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Denver (2018), an M.F.A. in Fiction from Brown University (2014), an MScR in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh (2010), and a B.A. in English from York University (2004). Awad's research and creative interests center on Contemporary Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Horror, with particular attention to feminist perspectives and psychological complexity. Her work often explores themes of female experience, identity, trauma, and the boundaries between reality and imagination. She examines how traditional narrative forms can be subverted to address contemporary social issues, particularly those affecting women. Her teaching at Syracuse includes specialized courses such as Horror in Fiction and Film , The Art of the Fairy Tale , and advanced fiction workshops that explore villains and psychological tension. Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent engagement with horror-inflected feminist literature, often blending elements of satire, psychological fiction, and magical realism. These works frequently examine the female experience through unconventional narrative structures and explore themes of bodily autonomy, social expectations, and psychological transformation. Her writing has appeared across prestigious literary platforms including The New York Times Magazine, McSweeney's, Lithub, Vogue, and Electric Literature. Her scientific awards include numerous prestigious recognitions: the Amazon Best First Novel Award and Colorado Book Award for 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (2016), the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novel for Bunny (2019), and the International Dublin Award (2022). She has also been a finalist for the Scotia Bank Giller Prize, New England Book Award, and Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror. Awad actively engages with the literary community through readings, workshops, and panels at major festivals including the Vancouver Writer's Festival, Toronto International Festival of Authors, Montclair Literary Festival, and Miami Book Festival. Her teaching portfolio at Syracuse University includes graduate and undergraduate courses in fiction writing, with a focus on specialized topics that reflect her research interests. She serves on departmental committees including the Agenda committee and Creative Writing committee within the English Department.
Timothy P. Harrison is a Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Toronto, affiliated with the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and the Faculty of Arts and Science. He has conducted over 35 years of field research in the Middle East, focusing on the Levant's Bronze and Iron Ages. His work centers on early complex societies, urbanism, archaeological theory, and ceramic analysis. Harrison directs the Tayinat Archaeological Project in Turkey and leads the CRANE Project, an international consortium studying the Orontes Watershed. Education: PhD from the University of Chicago. He served as ASOR President (2008-2013) and Chair of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations (2011-2022). His research emphasizes regional collaboration and integrates computational methods with traditional archaeology. Research interests include the socio-political dynamics of early urban centers, material culture analysis, and interdisciplinary approaches to reconstructing ancient lifeways. His publications analyze settlements like Tell Tayinat and Madaba, addressing environmental crises, trade networks, and historical inflection points. Leadership roles include Co-Chair of the Humanities Chairs Group (2014-2016) and directorships of major archaeological projects. His work bridges field excavation with theoretical frameworks, offering insights into ancient governance and cultural identity.
