Michael Collins (computational linguist)
Encyclopedia
Michael J. Collins is a researcher in the field of computational linguistics
.
His research interests are in natural language processing
as well as machine learning
and he has made important contributions in statistical parsing and in statistical machine learning. One notable contribution is a state-of-the-art parser for the Penn Wall Street Journal corpus.
His research covers a wide range of topics such as parse re-ranking, tree kernels, semi-supervised learning
, machine translation
and exponentiated gradient algorithms with a general focus on discriminative model
s and structured prediction
.
Collins worked as a researcher at AT&T Labs
between January 1999 and November 2002, and later held the positions of assistant and associate professor at M.I.T. Since January 2011, he has been a professor at Columbia University
.
Computational linguistics
Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective....
.
His research interests are in natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
as well as machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
and he has made important contributions in statistical parsing and in statistical machine learning. One notable contribution is a state-of-the-art parser for the Penn Wall Street Journal corpus.
His research covers a wide range of topics such as parse re-ranking, tree kernels, semi-supervised learning
Semi-supervised learning
In computer science, semi-supervised learning is a class of machine learning techniques that make use of both labeled and unlabeled data for training - typically a small amount of labeled data with a large amount of unlabeled data...
, machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
and exponentiated gradient algorithms with a general focus on discriminative model
Discriminative model
Discriminative models are a class of models used in machine learning for modeling the dependence of an unobserved variable y on an observed variable x...
s and structured prediction
Structured prediction
Structured prediction is an umbrella term for machine learning and regression techniques that involve predicting structured objects. For example, the problem of translating a natural language sentence into a semantic representation such as a parse tree can be seen as a structured prediction...
.
Collins worked as a researcher at AT&T Labs
AT&T Labs
AT&T Labs, Inc. is the research & development division of AT&T, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX;...
between January 1999 and November 2002, and later held the positions of assistant and associate professor at M.I.T. Since January 2011, he has been a professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.