Rada Mihalcea named Fellow of the ACL

Rada Mihalcea, Janice M. Jenkins Collegiate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) for “significant contributions to graph-based language processing, computational social science, and the advancement of NLP for social good.”

Prof. Mihalcea’s research spans computational linguistics, natural language processing (NLP), and computational social science, with a strong focus on understanding and modeling human language and behavior. Her pioneering work on graph-based approaches to language has shaped the way researchers tackle semantic analysis and information extraction. Mihalcea’s Language and Information Technologies (LIT) research group at U-M explores a range of topics, including cross-cultural large language models, safe and trustworthy AI, large language-vision models, and animal communication.

Leveraging text, speech, and multimodal data, Mihalcea has developed widely used methods for analyzing conversations, online interactions, and human-computer dialogue. Her projects often intersect with social good, including applications in healthcare, education, and the detection of bias or misinformation. By bridging computational models with real-world social challenges, Mihalcea’s research helps make technology more responsive, fair, and supportive of diverse communities.

Rada Mihalcea received a PhD in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University and a second PhD in Linguistics from Oxford University. She joined the CSE faculty in 2013 and has served as Director of the Michigan Artificial Intelligence Lab since 2017 and Co-Director of the e-Health and Artificial Intelligence Initiative since 2021. Previously, she held faculty positions at the University of North Texas.

Mihalcea’s work has garnered widespread recognition. She is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and previously served as President of the ACL, She has also received major honors at U-M, including the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, the Sarah Goddard Power Award, and the Carol Hollenshead Award. In 2013, she was made an honorary citizen of her hometown of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 

Mihalcea is deeply committed to broadening participation in computing, founding outreach programs including Girls Encoded, Discover CS, and Explore CS Research, and mentoring students from diverse backgrounds.

About the ACL Fellowship Program

The ACL is the premier international scientific and professional society for people working in the areas of computational linguistics and natural language processing (NLP). The ACL Fellows program was established in 2011 to recognize members whose contributions to the field have been extraordinary in scientific and technical excellence, service to the association and community, and/or educational or outreach activities with broader impact.