Todd S.

I have experience as a software engineer with a background in computational linguistics and offer consulting services for solutions using natural language processing and related language technologies.

Previously, I'd finished post-graduate studies in computational linguistics, my thesis work focusing on using situational knowledge to improve classification in a dynamic context; The type of classification was speech recognition and the context it was used in was an air traffic control simulation, as part of a larger project with the German Aerospace Center, a.k.a. das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR). My work was done at the Department of Spoken Language Systems at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Not surprisingly, my research interests lie primarily within situated human-machine interaction and dialogue — namely, in utilizing situational knowledge about the context in which such interaction is performed to enhance the interaction: All language (as well as dialogue in general) is situated in context, and the ability to reason about and condition for such situational and contextual knowledge can be put to great use in natural language understanding and processing.

In this regard, some specific topics of research I like to follow are situated dialogue and dialogue systems as well as context-sensitive classification, multi-modal interaction and human-machine interaction in general. Moreover, although language-based (especially dialogue-based) issues are my specialty, I find many search- and optimization-related problems to be interesting.

Outside of my professional life, I like cycling and scuba diving as well as travel and outdoor sports in general (time and money permitting).