Liz Liddy

Elizabeth DuRoss Liddy is an Emeritus Professor of Information Science and former Dean of the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. She was a pioneer in the field of natural language processing.

Liz Liddy
Alma materSyracuse University (PhD)
Daemen College (BS)
Known forNatural language processing
Scientific career
InstitutionsSU School of Information Studies
ThesisThe discourse-level structure of natural texts : an exploratory study of empirical abstracts (1988)

Early life and education

Liddy grew up in Utica, New York.[1] She was one of five children, all of whom worked in her father's family business.[1] Liddy attended St. Francis DeSalle High School, where she was awarded a Regent's Scholarship, and eventually attended Daemen College.[1] She was literary editor of her high school year book and edited a literary magazine during her time at college.[2] At Daemen College Liddy studied English language and literature.[1] After graduating Liddy remained in New York, where she volunteered in an elementary school library.[1][3] She joined the Syracuse University School of Information Studies in 1983, where she started a graduate program in library science.[1] She worked as a faculty librarian at Onondaga Community College whilst earning her degree.[2] Here Liddy worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor, whilst completing her doctorate part-time in information transfer.[4] Her dissertation research involved natural language processing, a computerized approach to analyzing text.[5][6] She was hired to the faculty at Syracuse University whilst completing her PhD.[1][7]

Research and career

In 1994 Liddy was the founding President of TextWise, a semantics-based search engine.[1][2][8] The first product she developed was called Document Retrieval Using Linguistic Knowledge (DR-LINK).[2] She left TextWise in 1999, after growing the number of employees to over 50.[9] She started the Syracuse University Center for Natural Language Processing in 1999,[2] and was honored with the university's Outstanding Alumni Award the following year.[10]

Liddy was appointed Dean of the School of Information Studies (iSchool) in 2008, and held the position for over ten years. She temporarily left the role in 2015.[4] The school was transformed under her leadership, increasing the enrollment of students by over 70% and launching a graduate certificate in data science.[4] She raised over $20 million to support research and development at Syracuse University.[4]

She chaired the iSchool Organization, which connects information science schools all over the world, from 2012 to 2014.[4] Liddy worked to increase the representation of women at the iSchool, through initiatives such as the IT Girls Overnight Retreat – an annual weekend to introduce high school girls to Information Technology.[4] She improved the career development programs of students at Syracuse University, increasing student employment to almost 100% post graduation.[4] Liddy retired as Dean of the iSchool in 2019.[4]

Selected innovations
  • US 6026388, Liddy, Elizabeth D., "User interface and other enhancements for natural language information retrieval system and method", published 1995-08-16, issued 2000-02-15
  • US 5963940, Liddy, Elizabeth D., "Natural language information retrieval system and method", published 1995-08-16, issued 1999-10-05
  • US 6006221, Liddy, Elizabeth D., "Multilingual document retrieval system and method using semantic vector matching", published 1995-08-16, issued 1999-12-21

Personal life

Liddy was married shortly after graduating Daemen College in 1966.[1] She has three children.[1]

gollark: Haircuts are uncool. I avoid them even during non-pandemic times.
gollark: People actually *did* that? Why?
gollark: That's subjective.
gollark: No, but I don't think it's very good.
gollark: It's not enforced until October, mind.

References
  1. "Entrepreneurial Educator – Daemen Today". today.daemen.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  2. "Elizabeth Liddy on leadership: To stay competitive keep up with information technology". syracuse. 2014-05-11. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  3. "Elizabeth Liddy on leadership: To stay competitive keep up with information technology". syracuse. 2014-05-11. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  4. "Dean Liz Liddy Announces Retirement, Plans to Conclude Tenure as Dean of School of Information Studies". SU News. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  5. Liddy, Elizabeth (2001-01-01). "Natural Language Processing". Center for Natural Language Processing.
  6. "Ep. 3 Natural Language Processing, with Liz Liddy". Develomentor. 2019-09-15. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  7. "Faculty Emeriti". School of Information Studies | Syracuse University. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  8. Chen, Chuanfu; Larsen, Ronald (2014-09-30). Library and Information Sciences: Trends and Research. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-54812-3.
  9. "Syracuse University iSchool dean, Liddy, to retire after current academic year". www.cnybj.com. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  10. "Elizabeth D Liddy". members.educause.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
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