Yejin Choi, former Assistant Professor from 2010-2014 in Stony Brook’s Department of Computer Science, was one of the 25 recipients awarded the $800,000 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation. 

“When I received the phone call from the Foundation, I thought they were going to ask me to do some consulting work,” Choi told UW News. “My heart almost stopped beating when I heard ‘congratulations’ instead. This is such a great honor because there have been only two other researchers in the natural language processing field who have received this award.”

The MacArthur Foundation selects recipients, or MacArthur Fellows, of the genius grant based on talent and creativity. The foundation invests in those who have shown outstanding accomplishments throughout their careers and show promising signs of future success. 

Choi’s extensive work in natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and other computer science fields earned her the grant. Her recent work in natural language processing involves closely working with machines to improve their development in understanding human language and perform common sense reasoning. 

“It’s so thrilling to see Yejin honored in this fashion. It’s very well deserved,” says IV Ramakrishnan, Professor in the Department of Computer Science, and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "I had the privilege of working with her. She had superb command of the literature, open to all sorts of ideas and quick to filter away unworkable ones. She was very pleasant to work with. She was an excellent mentor to her students - very caring and invested in their success as researchers. ” 

For more information, visit the MacArthur Foundation’s video titled “Yejin Choi, Computer Scientist | 2022 MacArthur Fellow” and her MacArthur Fellows biography. 

-Sara Giarnieri, Communications Assistant