CPLS Lab @ UCSB

We are always thrilled to connect with students and scholars who share our passion for computational and experimental approaches in Linguistics.

All members of the UCSB community are welcome to join biweekly meetings of the UCSB CEILing (Computation and Experiments in Linguistics) research group, in which CPLS Lab members are heavily involved. To join the mailing list, click here, and then click the Ask to join button. Please note that you may receive an e-mail requesting more information about your identity before your application is accepted.

Undergraduate students are welcome in the lab as Research Assistants, in exchange for units. If you are interested, please describing your interests and skills/expertise (e.g., background with programming, data science, statistics, applied math, and/or running experiments), as well as any relevant research experience you may have. If/when opportunities arise with suitable potential projects, we will let you know.

Graduate students are required to be working directly with Prof. Simon Todd in order to become a lab member. A good place to start a project is by taking one of his courses (e.g., LING 205, 208, 209, 210, or 247), but you can also to discuss an idea that arose independently.

Prospective graduate students should apply to the PhD program in the Department of Linguistics. Please note the following:

• Admission to the UCSB Graduate program in Linguistics is decided by an admissions committee based on fit with the department as a whole, rather than by an individual faculty member. You are advised to inspect the list of current faculty and identify 2-3 faculty members who you could imagine yourself working with; if you can't do this, the admissions committee is unlikely to propose you for consideration by the faculty.

• While the CPLS Lab welcomes students from all backgrounds, all students in the UCSB Graduate program in Linguistics are expected to take courses broadly within Linguistics. Therefore, students who have limited background in Linguistics are at a disadvantage. If you don't already have a background in Linguistics, the admissions committee is likely to recommend that you pursue an MA in Linguistics elsewhere, and then re-apply to the program later.

• Research within the CPLS Lab is not primarily in the area of Natural Language Processing, but rather in Computational Linguistics. The difference is that we use computational methods (alongside statistical and experimental methods) to understand how language works and how people use it, rather than focusing primarily on engineering systems that enable computers to process language. If you are interested in NLP as opposed to Computational Linguistics, then you are advised to instead apply to the Computer Science Department, where there is an excellent NLP group.