The NLP Group at Penn State

  From October 7-9, 2024, Prof. Rebecca Passonneau and her former PhD student, Prof. Yanjun Gao, attended COLM 2024 in Philadelphia. Prof. Gao is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she is making significant contributions in AI and biomedical informatics. It was wonderful to celebrate her achievements and reconnect!

  Congratulations to Mahsa on her well-deserved Master’s graduation! 🎉 We had a wonderful time celebrating this milestone at Professor Rebecca Passonneau’s home, surrounded by friends and great conversations. Wishing Mahsa all the best in her future endeavors—this is just the beginning of many more successes to come! 🌟 

On September 20th, the annual NLP party was hosted at the home of Prof Rebecca J. Passonneau, bringing together members from three NLP research groups in the Penn State Computer Science and Engineering department. The three groups, led by Prof Rebecca J. Passonneau, Prof Rui Zhang and Prof Wenpeng Yin. The event was a delightful blend of intellectual conversations and casual socializing. In attendance were the three professors, their students, and a few invited friends. The gathering provided an opportunity for researchers across the groups to discuss their ongoing projects, exchange ideas, and strengthen the collaborative spirit that defines Penn State’s NLP community. Photo Caption: From left to right Third Row: Renze Lou, Nan Zhang, Hongchao Fang, Tingyang Sun Second Row: Ryo Kamoi, Sarkar Snigdha Sarathi Das, Wenpeng Yin, Vipul Gupta, Berk Atil, Yuchen Wei First Row: Rui Zhang, Ibraheem Moosa, Zhuoyang Zou, Rebecca J. Passonneau, Janice Ahn, Ranran Haoran Zhang, Ruihao Pan

  Congratulations, Vipul, on passing his comprehensive exam, and  delivering an impressive  presentation  on "Responsible AI: Towards Equitable Model Evaluation" ! Here’s to his continued success and the amazing accomplishments that surely lie ahead in his PhD journey!

  ChatGPT Congratulations to Zhaohui Li on the remarkable achievement of graduating with a doctorate and successfully defending the dissertation! To celebrate this momentous occasion, family and colleagues gathered to honor Zhaohui's accomplishments and to toast to the bright future that lies ahead. We are all incredibly proud of Zhaohui and look forward to seeing the continued success and contributions to the field. Well done, Dr. Li!

  The NLP lab team recently gathered at Becky's house for a casual get-together. It was a great mix of familiar faces and some fresh additions to the group. We had a good time chatting, exchanging NLP insights, and breaking the ice with our new lab colleagues. Becky's place offered an ideal setting for a laid-back evening, and it provided an excellent opportunity to socialize outside of our typical lab environment. Here's to more such gatherings in the future! 🎉🤝🏠

The "AI in Science Education" workshop hosted by this team of six aimed to introduce four teachers from Pennsylvania to the exciting world of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. Through engaging sessions, hands-on activities, and real-world examples, the teachers gained a deeper understanding of AI's potential to enhance student learning experiences.   During the 2023/23 academic year, the four teachers will be using science essay prompts in their instruction that we created during the workshop. They will send us their students’ essays that we will evaluate with our PyrEval content assessment software. We will meet with them again in the summer of 2024 for a follow-up workshop.