Joe Pater, Professor of Linguistics, Named 2025 Spotlight Scholar

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Joe Pater, Department of Linguistics Professor and Co-Director of the Computational Phonology Laboratory at UMass Amherst, has been named a 2025 Spotlight Scholar for his dedication to the field of phonology—the study of the sound patterns of languages. 

Pater employs phonological sciences to explain why, for example, the word “center” has two syllables in English but only one in French. (The answer, according to Pater, is that the “R” sound can be a vowel in English but not in French.)

“By understanding how languages work, we’re gaining new insights into how the human mind works, as well as the intricacies of human society,” says Pater. “Studying the details of social groups’ phonological systems allows us to understand the unique history of communities.” Working in computational linguistics has inspired Pater to connect with students and colleagues with expertise in computational methods, particularly in UMass’s Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS), for productive collaborations. Pater’s research has been continually funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) since 2008.

In a current collaboration, Pater and research fellow Virginia Partridge at CICS’s Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence are developing a program to automatically transcribe speech into the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which provides a unique symbol for each distinctive sound in a language.

Reflecting on his career to date, Pater is most proud of his work mentoring students and supporting their diverse career and life trajectories. Whether they’ve chosen to pursue a traditional path as a linguistics professor or have sought work in language technology or other industries, these students were able to conduct serious academic research that helped them meet their goals at UMass, thanks to Pater’s support.

Read Pater's full profile.