Welcome!
Human technology, such as smart voice assistants or computer-based intelligent tutoring systems, is largely based on standard American English and the misconception that there is a single, idealized variety of American English. This conflicts with the linguistic diversity of language users. The NSF Research Traineeship program “Linguistic diversity across the lifespan: Transforming training to advance human-technology interaction” (LinDiv) is a two-year graduate certificate program that educates a new generation of experts in human-technology interaction who can create technological innovations that benefit a broad range of linguistically and culturally diverse language users of different ages and of different abilities. Students will be trained to bridge the gap between human linguistic diversity and technology’s linguistic illiteracy. This program is open to students in the following disciplines:
- Psychology
- Spanish
- German
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Computer Science and Engineering
- Information Sciences and Technology
- Learning Design and Technology
This program will train a diverse transdisciplinary workforce to create knowledge and translate research outcomes into technological solutions that alleviate social, educational, and economic disparities for linguistically diverse populations.
LinDiv is hosted at Penn State through NSF grant #2125865.
For Students
The LinDiv Program accepted the first cohort of trainees in Fall 2022. For the 2023-24 cohort, current first-year and second-year graduate students in the above-listed programs are eligible to apply. The application deadline February 28, 2023.
The next information session will be held:
Thursday, January 26, 2023, 4:15-5:30 PM in 130 Moore Building and via Zoom.
Register to attend