This is a short description of my interests, please click on the pointers on the left for further information.

Research

My main area of research is Natural Language Processing (NLP), and its application to human-computer interaction, educational technology, and multimedia systems. My goal is to use NLP to support both education and instruction, and collaboration between human or artificial agents. The theoretical aspects of my research concern the linguistic analysis, and the knowledge representation and reasoning that support the understanding and generation of NL discourse and dialogue. All my research has its empirical foundations in both qualitative and quantitative corpus analysis, including data mining techniques.

Honors and Awards

NSF CAREER award (2002); Who's who in America (2001); Fulbright Fellowship (1987).

Publications

A chronologically ordered list can be found here .

Teaching

I teach "core" undergraduate Computer Science classes at different levels, and more advanced undergraduate and graduate classes in my areas of specialization: Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Human Computer Interaction.

I am also interested in encouraging and helping more women pursue careers in science and engineering. Here are some pointers to relevant resources.

Personal

Luca

Mattia

I try to follow issues related to Human Rights. I enjoy a bit of everything, including exploring Chicago, movies, hiking, and travelling. The most adventurous thing I ever did ---not completely of my free will :-) --- was to hike down inside Guagua Pichincha, an active volcano in Ecuador, and camp overnight in the crater. This was January 97. Since then, Guagua Pichincha has been gradually becoming more active, erupting more and more frequently.

Last updated January 4, 2006