If you were among the millions who bought the new iPhone 4S, then you can thank Dr. Harry Chen, the UMBC alumnus who helped develop the phone’s most notable new feature: Siri.

For those not among the millions, here’s a bit of background:  Siri is a virtual assistant that responds to voice commands. “She” can do things like make phone calls, send text messages, set alarms, and find directions. But, the remarkable thing about Siri is that she understands intent. Tell Siri “I’m drunk,” and she’ll bring up a list of cab services in the area. Tell Siri “I want a burger” and she’ll direct you to burger joints nearby, according to ratings.

Chen is a triple-play computer science UMBC alumnus, earning his bachelor’s degree in the subject in 1998, his master’s degree in 2000, and his doctorate in 2004.

Read the full story on UMBC’s Computer Science and Electrical Engineering site.

Read more alumni stories on Retriever Net.

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Deadline: November 15, 2011

Amount: All CLS Program costs are covered for participants including: travel to and from the student's U.S. home city and program location, a mandatory Washington, D.C. pre-departure orientation, applicable visa fees, room, board, group-based intensive language instruction, program-sponsored travel within country, and all entrance fees for CLS Program cultural enhancement activities. Please note that U.S. passport fees will not be paid by the scholarship, and you will be required to cover transportation to and from your U.S. home address and the airport for CLS Program travel. Selected applicants must have a U.S. passport valid through 2013 with at least two blank visa pages by early February 2012. Please plan in advance to avoid visa delays.

Who can apply:

1. ·         All applicants must be U.S. citizens.*
2. ·        Applicants must be currently enrolled in a U.S. degree-granting program at the undergraduate or graduate level.
3. ·         Current undergraduate students must have completed at least one year of general college course-work by program start date (one year is defined as two semesters or three quarters).
4. ·         Be in acceptable mental and physical health. Grantees will be required to submit a satisfactory Medical Information Form and Physician’s Statement.
5. ·         Applicants must be 18 by the beginning of the 2012 CLS Program.
6. ·         Please see 2012 CLS Institute Language Levels for more information on language pre-requisites for individual institutes.
7. ·         Students in all disciplines, including business, engineering, law, medicine, sciences, and humanities are encouraged to apply.

Application Requirements: Award recipients will be selected on the basis of merit with consideration for:

·         Academic record and potential to succeed in a rigorous academic setting;

1. ·         Ability to adapt to a different cultural environment;
2. ·         Diversity;
3. ·         Plan for continuation of study of the language; and
4. ·         Plan to use the language in future career.

All applicants are initially read by two outside academic readers, and the top applications are reviewed by panels of academic and experts in the area and language. Applicants recommended for selection are forwarded to the U.S. Department of State for final approval. Applicants will be notified of the results of their application to the CLS Program in mid to late March. After notification, selected participants will be required to complete a language evaluation. Selected applicants will be assigned to a CLS institute site by mid to late April based on language evaluation results along with information provided in the online application.

The United States Department of State is pleased to announce the scholarship competition for the 2012 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program for overseas intensive summer language institutes in thirteen critical need foreign languages. CLS institutes provide fully-funded group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to ten weeks for U.S. citizen undergraduate and graduate students. Students may apply for one language, and will be placed at institute sites based on language evaluations after selection.

Languages offered: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu. 

Interested applicants should review the full eligibility and application information on the CLS Program website. Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, and Japanese institutes have language prerequisites, which can be found here: http://www.clscholarship.org/applicants.htm#prerequisites.