Reddy Receives IEEE's James L. Flanagan AwardFor Contributions in Speech and Audio Processing

Byron SpiceTuesday, February 12, 2008

PITTSBURGH- Raj Reddy, Carnegie Mellon University's Mozah Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, has been awarded the IEEE's James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award "for leadership and pioneering contributions to speech recognition, natural language understanding, and machine intelligence."

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) established the award in 2002 to honor achievements in all aspects of speech and audio technology. It bears Flanagan's name in recognition of the major role he's played in leading the world into the present era of digital speech communications that provides new technologies for communication between people as well as between people and machines.

Reddy also has made his mark on the new digital era through his work in speech recognition, computer science and robotics. His work in speech recognition spans nearly four decades, encompassing the production of such landmark systems as Hearsay, Harpy, Dragon and Sphinx. These systems have won prizes for best performance in head-to-head competition with other leading universities and private research groups around the world.

"Raj Reddy has a special ability to see beyond the limitations of current technology to understand what the future can bring," said Randal E. Bryant, dean of Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. "Speech recognition seemed like an overwhelmingly difficult task 40 years ago, but through advances in computers and innovative research, our machines now understand us when we talk to them. Raj has also had visionary ideas about robotics and the ability of information technology to serve the needs of developing countries. I look forward to watching his visions become realities."

Reddy is the founding director of Carnegie Mellon's world-famous Robotics Institute and former dean of the School of Computer Science. He was a winner of the 1994 ACM Turing Award for achievements in artificial intelligence. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a fellow of the IEEE, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.

He will receive a bronze medal, certificate and honorarium at the IEEE's annual international conference on acoustics, speech and signal processing, March 31-April 4 in Las Vegas.

The IEEE is the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology with a membership of more than 372,000 scientists and engineers in more than 160 countries. Through its global membership, the IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications, to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.

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Byron Spice | 412-268-9068 | bspice@cs.cmu.edu