Maxine Eskenazi

My research interests revolve around spoken dialog, crowdsourcing and education. I implement models of interaction between humans from low, reactionary levels to higher cognitive ones to create a more natural and acceptable spoken dialog system. It is essential to observe how real users interact with computers in order to build usable systems. My use of real applications in modeling and testing interaction hypotheses has been adopted by many in the community. To this end, I have made data and a research platform available to the research community at large.

I believe that crowdsourcing must be carried out with respect for its workers. I have also looked at how to seamlessly design and assess tasks. I endeavor to engage colleagues from many disciplines and encourage them to use this technique, making them aware of the power of crowdsourcing and educating them in harnessing it.

I have created intelligent tutoring systems for language learning that use the power of speech and natural language processing to create tools for learners. I am interested in microeducation, tailoring learning to the individual by considering their full background, immediate surroundings and needs.