Daumé Elected to DARPA’s ISAT Study Group

Hal Daumé III, an associate professor of computer science with appointments in UMIACS and the Language Science Center, has been elected to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Information Science and Technology (ISAT) study group for a three-year term (2017–2020).

ISAT brings together approximately 30 select scientists and engineers that will identify new areas of development in computer and communication technologies and recommend future research pathways.

Daumé, who is director of the Computational Linguistics and Information Processing (CLIP) Laboratory, says what he will be working on with the group will depend on what his cohorts are interested in exploring.

“However, I'm hoping to investigate the intersection of natural language processing and societal biases—how we can identify them and help understand them,” he says.

The ISAT group performs three large studies each year, the topics of which are nominated in the summer, chosen in the fall or early winter, and performed in the spring and early summer. The studies culminate during a week-long retreat at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

It is expected that ISAT members will propose to lead or co-lead at least one study during their three-year tenure and also participate actively in one study each year.

During his term, Daumé says he hopes to be able to gain insight from other members of his group.

“I hope to get feedback from a very broad range of extraordinary researchers on my ideas, and hopefully give back by providing a language perspective on other people's topics of interest,” he says.

The ISAT study group was established by DARPA in 1987 to support its technology offices, providing continuing and independent assessment of the state of advanced information science and technology and as it relates to the U.S. Department of Defense.