133 - PhD Application Series: Preparing Application Materials, with Nathan Schneider and Roma Patel

133 - PhD Application Series: Preparing Application Materials, with Nathan Schneider and Roma Patel

Author: Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence October 6, 2021 Duration: 43:54
This episode is the first in our current series on PhD applications. How should people prepare their applications to PhD programs in NLP? In this episode, we invite Nathan Schneider (Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science at Georgetown University) and Roma Patel (PhD student in Computer Science at Brown University) to share their perspectives on preparing application materials. We start by talking about what factors should go into the decision to apply for PhD programs and how to gain relevant experience. We then talk about the most important parts of an application, focusing particularly on how to write a strong statement of purpose and choose recommendation letter writers. Blog posts mentioned in this episode: - Nathan Schneider’s Advice on Statements of Purpose: https://nschneid.medium.com/inside-ph-d-admissions-what-readers-look-for-in-a-statement-of-purpose-3db4e6081f80 - Student Perspectives on Applying to NLP PhD Programs: https://blog.nelsonliu.me/2019/10/24/student-perspectives-on-applying-to-nlp-phd-programs/ Homepages: - Nathan Schneider: https://people.cs.georgetown.edu/nschneid/ - Roma Patel: http://cs.brown.edu/people/rpatel59/ The hosts for this episode are Alexis Ross and Nishant Subramani.

While NLP Highlights is currently on hiatus, its archive remains a compelling snapshot of conversations from the front lines of computational linguistics. Produced by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, this science podcast carved out a space for deep, researcher-led discussions about natural language processing. Each episode functions as an informal seminar, where the people actively designing algorithms and pushing the field forward explain their work in their own words. You'll hear about the nuanced challenges behind making machines understand, generate, and reason with human language, from foundational theories to unexpected applications. The dialogue in this podcast often delves into the "why" behind the research, not just the results, offering clarity on complex topics like machine translation, sentiment analysis, or large language models. It’s a chance to listen as experts articulate their thought processes, debates, and moments of insight, with all the candidness that comes from a conversation between peers. The views shared are personal perspectives from the hosts and their guests, independent of their affiliated institutions. For anyone curious about how machines learn to parse meaning, the archived episodes of NLP Highlights provide a thoughtful and accessible entry point.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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