Prof. Robert C Berwick

Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Computational Linguistics

Primary DLC

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

MIT Room: 32-D728

Assistant

Max Taylor
tmax@mit.edu

Areas of Interest and Expertise

Natural Language Processing: Computer Models of Language Acquisition and Parsing
Computational Biology and Evolutionary Theory Including Evolution of Language
Artificial intelligence: Formal Models of Learning, Including Inductive Inference and Computational Complexity Analysis of Language
Cognitive Science: Word Learning, Semantics of Natural Languages

Research Summary

Prof. Berwick and his research group investigate computation and cognition, including computational models of language acquisition, language processing, and language change, within the context of machine learning, modern grammatical theory, and mathematical models of dynamical systems. A second line of inquiry is probing the biological and evolutionary underpinnings of human language, including models of language change as well as its biologically-grounded evolutionary origins, in particular, in birdsong.

Professor Berwick has been the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Award as well as the MIT Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award, MIT’s highest honor for junior faculty. He has also received an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. He helped found and run MIT’s Center for Biological and Computational Learning for more than 15 years.

Recent Work