SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING SCIENCE

MEMORANDUM




To: Brad Bart


From: Fred Popowich, Maite Taboada


Date: Dec 6, 2004

Subject: Joint Major in Computational Linguistics

________________________________________________________________________


The following proposal is being submitted to both the School of Computing Science, and the Department of Linguistics. Both the Department of Linguistics and the School of Computing Science have faculty members who have been involved in computational linguistics research. From computing science, the list includes Veronica Dahl, Bob Hadley, Fred Popowich and Anoop Sarkar. The linguistics department has Chung-Hye Han, Trude Heift, Paul McFetridge, and Maite Taboada.


1. Introduction


A B.Sc./B.A. degree program (major) is proposed as a joint program of the School of Computing Science and the Department of Linguistics, to be administered under the Faculty of Applied Sciences.


The long-standing synergy and collaboration between Computing Science and Linguistics has culminated in the emergence of a research discipline called Computational Linguistics (CL). Research in CL has consequences for theories of human language as well as practical applications in information technology. Theoretical computational linguists develop formal models of the human language faculty and implement them as computer programs. These programs constitute the basis for evaluation and further development of the theories. Some of the applications using CL research include speech recognition software, web search engines, word processors (spell checkers, grammar checkers), information retrieval/extraction systems, and machine translation systems.


Given that all these systems store, process, and extract information as language, their development and implementation require skills in computing as well as a solid background in linguistics. This means that the ideal practitioners in CL fields are those who have received training in both disciplines. In fact, a number of students taking Computing Science courses already take Linguistics courses and vice versa, showing a demand for such a joint program.


The proposed program is an excellent fit for the curriculum reform initiative at SFU, combining as it does a rigorous training in quantitative, technical and formal skills, much exposure to analytic thinking and essay writing, and a great breadth of topics and methodologies from both the humanities and the information sciences. The students of the proposed joint program will have acquired formal reasoning and analytical skills together with a solid technical background. They will be well prepared for careers in information technology and related areas, or advanced research in graduate programs in various subfields in linguistics, computing science, as well as computational linguistics.



2. Proposed Calendar Description.

The following text is proposed to be placed in the Department of Linguistics section under Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Joint Major in Computing Science and Linguistics

See “Joint Major in Computing Science and Linguistics” on page x.



The following text is proposed to be placed in the School of Computing Science section under Faculty of Applied Sciences.

Joint Major Program in Computing Science and Linguistics

The School of Computing Science and the Department of Linguistics cooperate in offering a Joint Major program. The administrative home is within the Faculty of Applied Sciences for purposes of student registration, appeals and graduation processing. Interested students should contact advisors in both the Department of Linguistics and the School of Computing Science. Permission to enroll in the program must be obtained from both the Department of Linguistics and the School of Computing Science.



Program requirements below include sections labeled CMPT Requirements and LING Requirements. The requirements under these sections are intended to track corresponding requirements within the CMPT and LING Major programs, respectively.

Lower Division Requirements (49-51 credits)



CMPT Requirements



* (can be replaced by CMPT 126-3)


LING Requirements




Upper Division Requirements


CMPT Requirements (27 credits)



Choose four courses from distinct concentration areas:



It is recommended that these four courses include:


Plus, one additional 400 level course from any area.



LING Requirements (21 credits)



In addition, students must have 12 credit hours from:



For a B.A. from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, students must fulfill the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences requirements, such as the Breadth Requirements. For a B.Sc. from the Faculty of Applied Science, students must fulfill the Faculty of Applied Science requirements, such as the Residency Requirements.

Students are encouraged to enroll in the Cooperative Education Program.


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