Olympiad Contestants Practice at IACS

On January 14, IACS hosted a practice session for the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO). NACLO is a contest in which middle and high-school students solve linguistic puzzles using logic, reason and computational principles. Fourteen middle and high-school students participated along with some of their parents and teachers, representing Dawnwood Middle School, Comsewogue High School, Half Hollow Hills High School East, Half Hollow Hills High School West, the Long Island School for the Gifted, and the Stony Brook School. Professor Christina Tortora (CUNY Linguistics) introduced the practice session with an overview of the science of language, and then the students broke into two groups to practice problems. The groups were mentored by five graduate students from the department of Linguistics. Stony Brook University Lingustics Professors Jeffrey Heinz, Richard Larson, and Lori Repetti were also in attendance. Professor Larson said, "I thought the intro presentation by Prof. Christina Tortora was terrific and engaging. And looking into the problem solving rooms afterwards, it was clear the kids were totally engaged. A great job and a fun afternoon!" The NACLO contest itself takes place on January 25.