Reno Reporter

Computer scientists and linguists at the University of Nevada, Reno, have developed a new interdisciplinary bachelor's degree program in computational linguistics, which will be offered beginning with the fall 2022 semester. The unique program combines language proficiency requirements with classes that explore topics like machine translation, speech recognition, text-to-speech synthesis and interactive voice response.

"Computational linguistics is a growing area of university study that is sought-after and commercially viable," Spanish instructor Gerald McMenamin said in a recent release on UNR.edu. "It is one that will provide internships for students and jobs for our graduates. We are excited to present this new option for study to our students of language, linguistics and computer science."

McMenamin came up with the idea in 2019, the release said. He recognized a gap in the labor market that the degree program could fill with better-qualified workers. McMenamin initiated a conversation with professor Casilde Isabelli, the chair of World Languages and Literatures. The duo then reached out to Ian Clayton, an associate chair of English; and Emily Hand, a professor of engineering and computer science. The team worked to build the program and curriculum.

"From a computer science perspective, it's not super-exciting now to just know how to program," McMenamin said. "Many computer scientists that take a job in natural language processing will need to work with a linguist. If they have that background already, they will be way more attractive to a potential employer."

A range of jobs are available to those with degrees in computational linguistics, such as voice recognition, data mining, machine translation, predictive text messaging and improved search engines.