The language science faculty group is an interdisciplinary network among RIT faculty which comprises scholarly collaborations, student research opportunities, curricular offerings, events and community outreach. Faculty in our community are award-winning and well-funded researchers and experienced educators. Students and faculty engage in research across areas such as computational linguistics/natural language and speech processing, American Sign Language, phonetics, syntax and psycholinguistics, applying computational, experimental and fieldwork methods. We invite inquisitive undergraduate and graduate students to seek out our curricular offerings and research opportunities, useful for a range of career prospects.
 Faculty
Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts
Director, Computational Linguistics and Speech Processing Lab
 LBR(06)-2110
 +1 (585) 475-7327
Multimodal Sensing; Natural Language Understanding; Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
Gerald P. Berent, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, National Technical Institute for the Deaf
 RSC(53)-1140
 +1 (585) 475-6521
Deaf Studies; English Teaching & Learning; Second Language Acquisition; Theoretical & Applied Linguistics


Joseph Bochner, Ph.D.
Professor, National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Center on Access Technology
 RHD-A239
 +1 (585) 475-6210
Language and literacy development in Deaf learners, Audition and speech perception, and Language proficiency testing
Rain Bosworth, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Director, Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab
 LBJ-2257
 +1 (585) 475-6521
American Sign Language,, Visual Perception, Infant Vision, Developmental Psychology


Zhong Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, College of Liberal Arts
Chair, Language Science Curriculum Committee
Chinese Language Coordinator
 EAS(01)-3179
 +1 (585) 475-6917
Computational Linguistics; East Asian Languages; Experimental Syntax; Psycholinguistics
Matt Dye, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Member, NTID Center on Cognition and Learning
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Psychology
 LBJ(60)-2237
 mwddls@rit.edu
Cochlear Implants; Deaf; Sign Language; Visual Processing


Allison Fitch, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, College of Liberal Arts

 GOL(70)-2659
 +1 (585) 475-2416
Language Acquisition, American Sign Language, Visual Cognition, Autism Spectrum Disorders
Matt Huenerfauth, Ph.D.
Professor, Golisano College of Computing & Information Sciences
Director, Linguistic and Assistive Technologies Laboratory
Director, iSchool (School of Information)
Liason, Linguistic Data Consortium
 GOL(70)-2659
 +1 (585) 475-2459
American Sign Language; Automatic Speech Recognition; Human-Computer Interaction


Tina M. Sutton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Graduate Director, Experimental Psychology Program
Director, Attention, Cognition, and Emotion Lab
 EAS(01)-2386
 +1 (585) 475-6773
Bilingualism; Emotion; Language Attention


Stanley Van Horn, Ph.D.
Director, English Language Center
Instructor, Linguistic Anthropology: Language and Culture
 MON(15)-2040
 +1 (585) 475-6939
Applied Linguistics for Language Learning and Teaching; Cross-Cultural Communication; Discourse Analysis


Hiroko Yamashita, Ph.D.
Professor, College of Liberal Arts
 EAS-3239
 +1 (585) 475-6074
Psycholinguistics; Japanese Linguistics; Second language acquisition; Language education
Marcos Zampieri, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, College of Liberal Arts
Associated Researcher, Global Cybersecurity Institute (GCI)
Director, Language Technology Group
 GCI-3700
 +1 (585) 475-6939
Computational Linguistics; Natural Language Processing


 Research
 Curriculum
Major
English - Computational Linguistics Concentration
More details forthcoming.


Minor
Language Science
The Language Science Minor provides students with the knowledge of how sounds, structure, and meaning work in human language, and the skills needed to apply that knowledge in disciplines such as computing, psychology, interpreting, and engineering. Students are encouraged to pursue their individual career interests in language, from the relationship between language and culture to the cognitive underpinnings of language to the tools and methods powering language technology in artificial intelligence. Housed in College of Liberal Arts.
Immersions
Language Science / Computational Linguistics
The Language Science Immersion prepares students in the interdisciplinary scientific study and analysis of human language. Language science is directly applicable to students interested in computing and media, human-computer interaction, brain and cognition, language acquisition, human health, interpreting, relevant branches of engineering, and policy studies. Students can complete the immersion irrespective of their skills in languages other than English. In addition to a core course on linguistic principles, students can choose electives covering technology of language, philosophy of language, and language in culture and society. Housed in College of Liberal Arts.

The Computational Linguistics & Human Language Technology Immersion provides exposure to computational linguistics and relevant language science course work. Students gain knowledge and practical skills in computational natural language processing and technical linguistic analysis, useful for analytics and modeling with language data and for developing, evaluating, and maintaining language technology software. Housed in Department of English in College of Liberal Arts.
Application Domain
Computational Linguistics (in Software Engineering)
Many software applications involve processing natural language text or speech data. This application domain provides exposure to computational linguistics and language science. Students gain knowledge and practical skills in computational natural language processing and technical linguistic analysis, useful for analytics and modeling with language data and for developing, evaluating, and maintaining language technology software. Students can earn a minor in language science with two additional electives.
More
Curricular Offerings
 Activities
Language Science & Computational Linguistics Student Excellence Award
Awarded annually to undergraduate and graduate students for demonstrated excellence in language science/computational linguistics, with attention to project/research achievements. Nominations are made by the Language Science Faculty and juried by the Language Science Curriculum Committee (LCC) in Spring. Students currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at RIT are eligible for nomination. The award includes a certificate of achievement and a monetary gift.
Distinguished Computational Linguistics Lecture
List of distinguished speakers
Minor and Immersion Fair Exhibit
Language Science is respresented at the annual College of Liberal Arts Minor and Immersion Fair.
Language Science Faculty Research Mixers
Language science faculty and postdoctoral scientists connect to present and discuss scholarly work.
 Contact
For information about language science and computational linguistics at RIT, please contact the Linguistics/Language Science Curriculum Committee (LCC) Chair, Zhong Chen.
 EAS-3179
 +1 585-475-6917
For information regarding specific research groups and projects, please consult the appropriate linked website(s) for contact information.
Other Members of the Language Science Curriculum Committee (LCC):
  • Marcos Zampieri
  • Matt Huenerfauth