[Nfb-science] Summer Research opportunity for Students with Disabilities

[David Andrews]

>
>SUMMER RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
>
>Workshop on Semi-supervised Learning for Language Processing
>
>June 18 -- August 17
>University of Washington
>
>Language processing is becoming increasingly important for retrieving
>and managing the large volumes of data online, both on the web and in
>company databases, and it is an important component of some assistive
>technologies.  Language processing includes analyzing and extracting
>information from text and speech transcripts, as well as annotating
>text/speech with labels that make text processing more effective. A key
>problem is how to take advantage of the large amount of text and audio
>archives on the web to improve language processing, and semi-supervised
>machine learning techniques offer promise for addressing this challenge.
>
>To explore the potential of recent advances in semi-supervised learning
>and train more students in this area, the University of Washington's
>Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments
>are hosting a summer research workshop supported by the National Science
>
>Foundation.  Research positions are available for 2 graduate and 2
>undergraduate students to work in a team with another UW graduate
>student on problems related to semi-supervised learning for language
>processing. Students will be given tutorials about machine learning and
>language processing in the first week and will have the opportunity to
>meet senior researchers in the field, both from UW and other
>institutions. We are particularly interested in supporting students with
>
>disabilities who are in the fields of computer science, electrical
>engineering, or related fields.  Students will receive a stipend,
>support for travel costs, and a $4500 subsistence allowance to defray
>housing and food costs. Sign language interpreter services will be made
>available for seminars and tutorials if needed.
>
>All applicants should have some programming experience and should have
>taken a course in probability. Background in machine learning is
>desirable but not required.
>
>To apply: Send your resume, the contact information for one reference,
>and a brief statement (1 paragraph) describing why you are interested in
>
>participating to both:
>  Mari Ostendorf, mo at ee.washington.edu
>  Richard Ladner, ladner at cs.washington.edu
>by May 8, 2007.  Applicants will be notified of the decision on
>participants by May 11.
>

David Andrews and white cane Harry.