Organizers

MIT and Politecnico di Milano

Fabio Catania received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering and his Ph.D. in Information Technology from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the double affiliation MIT and Politecnico di Milano. His research interests include human-computer interaction (in particular conversational agents) and voice analysis to support people with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Politecnico di Milano

Franca Garzotto is an associate professor of Computer Engineering in the Department of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering and leads the Innovative Interactive Interfaces Lab (i3lab) at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her research focuses on advanced interaction technologies for people with special needs. In this field, she has recently received two IBM Faculty Awards.

MIT and Harvard University

Satrajit Ghosh is a principal research scientist at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School. Prof. Ghosh leads the Senseable Intelligence Group, whose research focuses on using ML for neuroimaging and speech to improve assessments and treatments for mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders.

MIT and Harvard University

Thomas Quatieri is a senior technical staff member at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory at MIT and holds a faculty appointment in the Harvard-MIT Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program. His research focuses on speech and auditory signal processing and neuro-biophysical modeling with application to the detection and monitoring of neurological conditions. 

University College Dublin

Benjamin Cowan is an associate professor at the University College Dublin’s School of Information & Communication Studies, Ireland. His research lies at the juncture between psychology, human-computer interaction, and communication systems in investigating how conversational technology design impacts aspects of user behavior in social, collaborative, and communicative interactions. Prof. Cowan is vice chair of the ACM Conversational User Interfaces conference.

MIT and Harvard University

Tanja Talkar received her B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. She is a graduate student in the Harvard Medical School Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology Program, working with Dr. Quatieri in the Human Health and Performance Systems group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Her research focuses on the development of speech-based biomarkers for the detection and characterization of neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions.