This spring, Chris Callison-Burch, Ph.D., was in town to share an unusual approach to machine learning. This is one of the hottest topics in computer science: It is behind everything from Google’s self-driving cars to Apple’s Siri personal assistant.
Callison-Burch, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is building a system that can automatically translate foreign languages into English — especially obscure dialects (from an American point of view) that can be of great interest to national security. He was in Birmingham at the invitation of Steven Bethard, Ph.D., a machine learning researcher and assistant professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Computer and Information Sciences.
In order to teach a computer to do something, Callison-Burch explained, you need to give it examples. Lots of examples. For a French-English translation, there are millions of sample texts available on the Internet. For Urdu, not so much.
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CAS News
August 31, 2015
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Seventeen CAS faculty members receive promotionsThe College of Arts and Sciences is proud to announce that 17 faculty members across 12 departments have been awarded promotions (including four faculty members who also were awarded tenure). -
CAS launches new Religious Studies minor to help students understand religion’s role in the worldFrom art and politics to history and culture, religion touches nearly every aspect of human life. A new minor in Religious Studies within the College of Arts and Sciences will give students a scholarly way to explore those connections and better understand the role religion plays in the world around them. -
Oct. 14-18, UAB Theatre kicks off season of power plays with “We Are Proud to Present”This meta-theatrical drama by Jackie Sibblies Drury tells the story of six actors wrestling with the history of colonial genocide in Namibia and its impact on human relations in the present day.