Workshop: Student Research in Computational Linguistics, at the ACL'2000 Conference

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

This is funding to subsidize expenses of student participants in the Student Research Workshop organized in conjunction with the Association for Computational Linguistics Conference (ACL'2000), which was held October 3-6, 2000, in Hong Kong. The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) is the primary international organization in the field of natural language processing and language engineering, with two regional chapters, Europe (EACL) and North America (NAACL), of approximately equal size. The Association's annual conference, which rotates between North America and Europe, is the major international meeting in the field, and was held for the first time this year in a Pacific Rim country. The workshop format allows students sufficient time to present their research (25 minutes) and receive feedback from a panel of established researchers in the field (15 minutes). It will provide students with invaluable exposure to outside perspectives on their work at a critical time in their research, through feedback from the panel and other student participants. The ACL Student Workshop is an inexpensive yet highly effective means of encouraging young and upcoming computational linguists. The intimate format encourages the student participants to begin building a rapport with established researchers. This nurturing effort should pay dividends by more effectively guiding students in this rapidly changing research field. In addition, by building a supportive environment for these students, it is more likely that down the road they will in turn lend a supporting hand to other students who follow.