|
|
 |
Home > About SI > News > Article
News of SI
Computational Linguistics Olympiad comes to Ann Arbor
(Feb 2008) On February 5th secondary school students throughout the Ann Arbor area tested their wits by solving logic problems related to human languages as part of the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO).
The Olympiad's organizing committee in Ann Arbor includes SI faculty Steven Abney (local co-chair) and Dragomir Radev (NACLO program chair).
As coach of last year's U.S. national team in the International Linguistics Olympiad, Radev led his students to a first place tie with the Russian team and a first place finish in the individual competition by team member Adam Hesterberg.
The Ann Arbor event is one of several regional competitions designed to winnow a field of finalists for an Invitational Competition on March 11th. Winners of the March event will be eligible to compete in this year's International Linguistics Olympiad, which will be held in Bulgaria in August.
Competing students solve problems based on real languages and formal systems they have never learned. No previous knowledge of linguistics or the languages represented is necessary. The problems are solvable using ordinary reasoning and analytic skills possessed by secondary school students.
Linguistic Olympiads originated in Russia in 1965, and have taken place sporadically in the USA since 1998. Last year was the first time a National Linguistics Olympiad was held in the USA. 200 students participated nationwide, and eight winners went on to represent the USA in the 2007 International Linguistics Olympiad (ILO) in St. Petersburg, Russia under the guidance of Professor Radev. Even though this was the first time the USA had fielded a team for the ILO, the US tied with Russia for first place in the team competition, and a US team member took the top prize in the individual competition.
The program is sponsored by Google, the National Science Foundation, and Cambridge University Press at the NACLO level and, locally, by the University of Michigan's Department of Linguistics, School of Information, and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Want to test yourself? Sample problems are available at the NACLO web site →.
Visit the School of Information News Archive
Home > About SI > News > Article
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Associate Professor Dragomir Radev
Associate Professor Steven Abney
|
|
|
|
|
|
