Dr. Graeme Hirst
Originally from Australia, Dr. Hirst received his PhD from Brown University in 1983 and has worked at the University of Toronto since that time. He has broad research interests in computational linguistics, natural language understanding and related areas of cognitive science. He has won awards for excellence in teaching and has supervised many graduate students, including Canadian astronaut Julie Payette.
Dr. Hirst is being recognized today for his outstanding service to the CSCSI. In the mid-1980s, he took over the CSCSI newsletter editor's position and turned the newsletter into a slick, interesting, information-packed magazine. At its peak, the newsletter reached about 1000 subscribers, with some issues being up to 80 pages long. Through his work on the newsletter, Dr. Hirst was essentially responsible for a dramatic transformation in the CSCSI communication strategy, at precisely the moment of the first AI boom. He served in his role as newsletter editor until the early 1990s, and has continued to be involved in the society, including as a programme committee member for the annual AI conference.
Again, we are pleased to honour Dr. Hirst's contributions to the CSCSI, most notably for his outstanding work on producing a fabulously professional newsletter for our growing society at a very important time in AI history. Congratulations to Dr. Graeme Hirst!