The Center for Language and Speech Processing at the Johns Hopkins University is seeking outstanding members of the current junior class to participate in a summer research workshop on language engineering from June 27th to August 19th, 2011.

The 8-week workshop provides an intense intellectual environment. Undergraduates work closely alongside more senior researchers as part of a multi-university research team, which has been assembled for the summer to attack some problem of current interest.

Applicants should expect to have completed 3 but not 4 years of undergraduate work as of summer 2011. No limitation is placed on the undergraduate major. Only enthusiasm for research, relevant skills, past academic and employment record, and the strength of letters of recommendation will be considered. Students of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Electrical Engineering, Linguistics, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, etc. may apply. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. The workshop is open to both US and international students.

The summer workshop provides:

• An opportunity to explore an exciting new area of research.
• A two-week tutorial on speech and language technology.
• Mentoring by an experienced researcher.
• Participation in project planning activities.
• Use of a computing cluster and personal workstation.
• A $5000 stipend and $2520 towards per diem expenses.
• Private furnished accommodation for the duration of the workshop.
• Travel expenses to and from the workshop venue.

We hope that this stimulating and selective experience will encourage students to pursue graduate study in human language technology, as it has been doing for many years.

2011 Workshop Teams

• New Parameterization for Emotional Speech Synthesis
• Confusion-based Statistical Language Modeling for Machine Translation and Speech Recognition
• An Exploration of How to Learn from Visually Descriptive Text
• A Performance Monitoring Approach to Robust Speech Processing

Selection Criteria

Four to eight undergraduate students will be selected for next summer’s workshop. It is expected that they will be members of the current junior class at the time of application. Applicants must be proficient in computer usage, including either C, C++, Perl or Python programming and have exposure to basic probability or statistics. Knowledge of the following will be considered, but is not a prerequisite: Linguistics, Speech Communication, Natural Language Processing, Cognitive Science, Machine Learning, Digital Signal Processing, Signals and Systems, Linear Algebra, Data Structures, Foreign Languages, or MatLab or similar software.

Equal Opportunity Policy

The Johns Hopkins University admits students of any race, color, sex, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or veteran status to all of the rights, privileges, programs, benefits and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the University. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or veteran status in any student program or activity, including the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other University-administered programs or in employment. Accordingly, the University does not take into consideration personal factors that are irrelevant to the program involved.

Questions regarding access to programs following Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504 should be referred to the Office of Institutional Equity, 205 Garland Hall, (410) 516-8075.