Espy-Wilson, Carol
Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Institute for Systems Research
The Institute for Systems Research
2221 A.V. Williams Bldg.
Carol Espy-Wilson is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland. View or download Dr. Espy-Wilson's CV here.
Dr. Espy-Wilson received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. She received her M.S., E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Maryland, Dr. Espy-Wilson was a faculty member at Boston University.
Dr. Espy-Wilson's research is in speech communication. She combines knowledge of digital signal processing, speech science, linguistics, acoustic phonetics and machine learning to conduct interdisciplinary research in speech and speaker recognition, speech production, speech enhancement and single-channel speech segregation. She also analyzes speech as a behavioral signal for emotion recognition, sentiment analysis and the detection and monitoring of mental health.
Her company, OmniSpeech, translated research in her lab on noise suppression and speech enhancement to technology that improves speech-enabled technology in any device, app or platform.
Dr. Espy-Wilson has authored or coauthored numerous papers in journals, conference proceedings and books. She is a Fellow of the International Speech Communication Association (ICSA) and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and a Senior Member of IEEE. She was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard 2008–2009. Among the other honors and awards she has received for her research contributions are the Clare Boothe Luce Professorship in 1990, the Independent Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health in 1998 and the Honda Initiation Award in 2003. She served as the chair of the Speech Technical Committee of the Acoustical Society of America (2007-2010) and as an Associate Editor of the ASA's magazine, Acoustics Today. She was a member of the National Advisory Board for Medical Rehabilitation at the National Institutes of Health. Currently, she is a member of the Advisory Council for the NIH National Institutes on Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. In 2019 she chaired the NSF Speech for Robotics Workshop.
Honors, awards and special recognition
- Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2021)
- Editorial Board, Computer, Speech and Language (2021–)
- Advisory Council, National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, NIH (2019-present)
- University of Maryland Campus Woman of Influence (2020)
- First African American woman, and first African American, in ECE to achieve tenure and be promoted to the rank of full professor (University of Maryland First to ADVANCE Program, 2019)
- Jimmy Lin Award for Innovation (2018)
- Fellow of the International Speech Communication Association (2018)
- Associate Editor, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- Advisory Council, NIH National Institutes on Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (2015-2018)
- Institute for Systems Research Senior Faculty Fellow Award (2015-2017)
- Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, University of Maryland (2012-2013)
- Advance Professor, University of Maryland (2011-2012)
- Elected to the Speech and Language Technical Committee of IEEE (2010-2012)
- Invention of the Year Award, University of Maryland (2010)
- Maryland Innovator of the Year Award, Baltimore Daily Record (2010)
- Grand Prize, Rockville Economic Development Inc. (REDI) StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition, 2010
- $50,000 SAIC-VentureAccelerator Competition, 2010
- University of Maryland $75K Business Plan Competition (High Technology & Social Impact), 2010
- Invention of the Year (Information Science): OmniSpeech, 2010
- Chair, Speech Communication Technical Committee, Acoustical Society of America (2007-2010)
- Editorial Board, Acoustics Today, Acoustical Society of America (2007-2009)
- Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (2008)
- Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (2005)
- Honda Initiation Award (2003)
- Honda Initiation Award (2004)
- Member, NIH Language and Communication Study Section (2001-2004)
- NIH Career Award (1998-2003)
- Clare Boothe Luce Professor (1990-1995)
Integration of engineering, linguistics, speech science and machine learning to study speech communication and develop robust speech technologies. Digital signal process, speech science, speech enhancement and segregation, noise robust automatic speech recognition, assistive technologies.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- C. Espy-Wilson, G. Sivaraman, M. Tiede, V. Mitra, E. Saltzmann, L. Goldstein, H. Nam (in press), “Modeling of Articulatory Gestures to Control Effects of Production Variability on Speech Technologies”. In Cangemi, Clayards, Niebuhr, Schupler & Zellers (eds). Rethinking Reduction, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2018.
- Vikramjit Mitra, Ganesh Sivaraman, Hosung Nam, Carol Espy-Wilson, Elliot Saltzman, Mark Tiede, “Hybrid Convolutional Neural Networks For Articulatory And Acoustic Information Based Speech Recognition”, Speech Communication, Vol 89, Issue C, pp. 103-112, 2017.
- V. Mitra, H. Nam, C. Espy-Wilson, E. Saltzman, and L. Goldstein, “Recognizing articulatory gestures from speech for robust speech recognition”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 131, no. 3, pp. 2270-2287, 2012.
- X. Zhou, C. Espy-Wilson, S. Boyce, M. Tiede, Christy Holland and Ann Choe
- “A magnetic resonance imaging-based articulatory and acoustic study of “retroflex” and “bunched” American English /r/ sounds”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 123, no. 6, pp. 4466-4481, 2008.
- A. Juneja and Carol Espy-Wilson, “Probabilistic landmark detection for automatic speech recognition using acoustic-phonetic information”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 123, no. 2, pp. 1154-1168, 2008.
- T. Pruthi, C. Espy-Wilson and Brad Story, “Simulation and analysis of nasalized vowels based on MRI data”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 121, no. 6, pp. 3858-3873, 2007.
- O. Deshmukh, C. Espy-Wilson, L. Carney, “Speech Enhancement using the Modified Phase Opponency Model”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 121, no. 6, pp. 3886-3898, 2007
- C. Y. Espy-Wilson, S. Boyce, M. Jackson, S. Narayanan and A. Alwan, “Acoustic Modeling of American English /r/”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, pp. 343-356, 2000.
- C. Y. Espy-Wilson, V. R. Chari, J. M. MacAuslan, C. B. Huang and M. J. Walsh “Enhancement of Electrolaryngeal Speech by Adaptive Filtering”, Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, vol. 41, no. 6, December, pp. 1253-1264, 1998
- F. Guenther, C. Espy-Wilson, S. Boyce, M. Matthies, M. Zandipour and J. Perkell “Articulatory tradeoffs reduce acoustic variability during American English /r/ production”, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 105, no. 5, pp. 2854-2865, 1999
- C. Y. Espy-Wilson (1994) “A Feature-Based Semivowel Recognition System,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 65-72, 1992
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C. Y. Espy-Wilson, “Acoustic Measures for Linguistic Features Distinguishing the Semivowels /wjrl/ in American English,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 736-751, 1992.
Transforming Engineering: Highlighting Maryland Engineers
In celebration of Black History Month, we highlight the many impactful contributions of Black engineers in our community—students, alums, faculty, and staff—to the Clark School, our university, and world.Maryland Engineers Awarded Grants to Address Humanity's Grand Challenges
Twelve projects led by or involving Maryland Engineering faculty have been awarded funding through the Grand Challenges Grants Program, the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind ever introduced at the University of Maryland.Professor Espy-Wilson Named IEEE Fellow
The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest.In Memoriam: John William Fritz (‘17, electrical engineering)
Rock on for John this October.How tech can fill gaps in mental health care
$1.2M in NSF funding supports researchers’ work to connect patients, clinicians more effectively.A new way to monitor mental health conditions
With machine learning, Carol Espy-Wilson is developing a phone app that can measure depression symptoms using speech and video cues.Carol Espy-Wilson Receives Campus Woman of Influence Award
Espy-Wilson has served as a pioneer, role model and mentor, especially for African-American women in the sciences.Search Initiated for New Clark School Dean
A national search has been initiated for a new Dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering.Clark School faculty 'AIM-HI' to address major health challenges
The new UMB-UMCP program has announced its first grants for projects combining AI and medicine.Carol Espy-Wilson named 'Campus Woman of Influence'
The award recognizes women in the campus community who have made exemplary contributions to the improvement of the quality of women's lives.Espy-Wilson's technology included in new Alcatel MOVE TIME smart watch
OmniSpeech 'OmniClear' software reduces dynamic noise in communication devices.Salamanca-Riba Appointed 2017/2018 UMD ADVANCE Professor
Dr. Salamanca-Riba will help facilitate opportunities for advancement among University faculty members, especially under-represented groups.More than 175 attend national Denice Denton Emerging Leaders Workshop
Faculty development workshop helped mid-career STEM academics develop knowledge, skills, strategies and critical networks.Ulukus Named 2016-2017 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher by University of Maryland
The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program honors members of UMD faculty who have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievements along with equally outstanding accomplishments as teachers.Espy-Wilson Featured in MIT’s Tech Review
She was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering at MIT.Smela Named ADVANCE Professor
Mechanical Engineering Professor Elisabeth Smela Named University of Maryland ADVANCE ProfessorEngineering systems for mental health work by Espy-Wilson, Resnik, Vaughn-Cooke featured in Newsweek
Research on quantifiable indicators could result in mental health tracking app.OmniSpeech to Demonstrate Technology at 2014 CES International
Professor Carol Espy-Wilson's company, OmniSpeech, will debut its groundbreaking speech extraction technology at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show.Clark Professors Honored as Top Women Professors in Maryland
Professors Espy-Wilson and Muro recognized by StateStats.org for excellence in and out of the classroomEspy-Wilson Earns Speech Recognition Grant
Researchers will develop a large-vocabulary speech recognition system based on articulatory information.Espy-Wilson, Briber Honored for Passion for Learning
Two Clark School professors named UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teachers.Showcase of Undergraduate Summer Research
Clark School student wins Best Overall Project with automatic volume leveler.Espy-Wilson Selected For ADVANCE Program
Professor and entrepreneur is ADVANCE Professor for Women Faculty of Color.Carol Espy-Wilson honored as Innovator of the Year
Maryland Daily Record honors her for invention that improves cell phone sound quality.OmniSpeech Wins $50K SAIC-VentureAccelerator Competition
Novel technology to make speech clear for mobile phones, related communications.Professor Wins Women's Business Plan Competition
Espy-Wilson's technology eliminates background noise in cell phones, speech communications.FlexEl is Maryland Incubator Company of the Year
Clark School faculty start-up wins with rechargeable, flexible, thin-film battery technology.Mtech, Alumna-Run Companies Vie for State Awards
Five Clark School-affiliated companies named finalists for Incubator Company of the Year.UM $75K Biz Plan Competition Winners Announced
Speech software from Clark School's Espy-Wilson wins top prize, Citrin Award.Mitra, Zhang Awarded Wylie Fellowships
ECE graduate students win prestigious, university-wide fellowship supporting quality dissertations.Espy-Wilson, Rubloff Are Top UM Inventors
Speech enhancing algorithm, high-density energy storage cells named best of '09.ECE Event Highlights Innovation, Entrepreneurship
Research Review Day showcases technology advancements in electrical and computer engineering.Espy-Wilson to Ensure Hearing is Believing
NSF grant supports research to authenticate digital speech content, thwart malicious editing.Fair Showcases Undergrad Summer Research
Students present their summer research accomplishments at annual MERIT/TREND fair.NIH Grant for Espy-Wilson
Professor is Co-PI on new grant for research to help tongue cancer patients' speech."Soul of Technology" Highlights Espy-Wilson
Palo Alto exhibition features 50 most important African Americans in technology.Espy-Wilson Appointed Radcliffe Fellow
ECE/ISR professor will be in residence at Harvard for 2008-2009 academic year.ASA Selects Espy-Wilson as Fellow
Associate Professor Carol Espy-Wilson has been named a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.Clark School Accomplishments Spring 2002
A list of Clark school accomplishments for Spring 2002International Speech Communication Association
- Fellow, 2018
Acoustical Society of America
- Fellow, 2005