Haskins Laboratories
The Science of the Spoken and Written Word
Haskins Laboratories is an independent, international, multidisciplinary community of researchers who conduct basic and applied research on spoken and written language and related topics. Exchanging ideas, fostering collaborations, and forging partnerships across the sciences, it has produced groundbreaking research that enhances our understanding of—and reveals ways to improve or remediate—speech perception and production, reading and reading disabilities, and human communication. We continue to serve as an intellectual and resource hub as we actively develop future opportunities and collaborations .
Richard Aslin elected to the British Academy.
On July 18, 2024, Richard Aslin, Senior Research Scientist/Senior Lecturer at the Yale Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, was elected an international member of the British Academy. Prior to joining the Child Study Center, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Haskins Laboratories. Here is the list of new fellows (which includes Catherine Snow and Eve Clark). This is a wonderful, and well-deserved honor. Congratulations, Dick!!
In Memoriam: Emily Qi Wang ( - 2024)
A Celebration of Life for our dear friend and esteemed colleague, Dr. Emily Q. Wang, was held on July 20, 2024, at RUSH University in Chicago.
See Emily Wang’s In Memoriam page for more information.
New Seminar Series.
Haskins Laboratories and the Haskins Global Literacy Hub are pleased to announce the creation of a new seminar series.
In Memoriam: Katherine S. Harris (1925 - 2024)
Katherine S. Harris, a pioneer and leader in speech science and psychology, and the former Vice President of Haskins Laboratories, died on March 15, 2024. She was a Distinguished Professor Emerita in Speech and Hearing at the CUNY Graduate Center and a former President of the Acoustical Society of America.
See her obituary.
An “In Memoriam” service and celebration of her life and career was held at the CUNY Graduate Center on July 15, 2024. It was attended by many Haskins people, past and present.
More information can be found on her In Memoriam page.
Yale-UConn Haskins Global Literacy Hub
Yale and Uconn announce the Haskins Global Literacy Hub to help improve literacy outcomes locally and globally.
University of Connecticut Waterbury is partnering with the Yale School of Medicine Child Study Center and UConn Global Affairs to form the Haskins Global Literacy Hub to help improve literacy outcomes locally and globally. The new partnership was announced Tuesday, Apr. 23, 2024, during the second annual WISHfest at the Palace Theater in Waterbury.
Nabin Koirala named as BIRC Director.
Nabin Koirala, Haskins researcher, and associate research scientist at the Yale Child Study Center, has been named as the new Director of the Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) at the University of Connecticut.
ASY (Articulatory Synthesis) Demo
The legacy ASY Demo (articulatory synthesis) was added to this website on Jan. 24, 2024.
Philip Rubin news
In January, 2024, Philip Rubin, Chair of the Board of Haskins Laboratories, was named as President of Rothschild Wilder, a private foundation that supports social justice and ethics, science and innovation, the arts and humanities, and the preservation of popular culture artifacts.
See, also: On Dec. 12, 2023, Sage published an interview with Rubin in their S3: Social Science Space, called, "Philip Rubin: FABBS' Accidental Essential Man Linking Research and Policy".
In Memoriam: Winifred Strange (d, Jan 25, 2024)
Winifred (“Pinky”) Strange, a pioneer in cross-language speech perception research, died on Jan. 25, 2025, after two battles with cancer. She was a Professor Emerita at CUNY’s Graduate Center. She received the Silver Medal of The Acoustical Society of America in 2008.
An “In Memoriam” service and celebration of her life and career was held at the CUNY Graduate Center on July 15, 2024. It was attended by many Haskins people, past and present.
More information can be found on her In Memoriam page.
Fundamentals of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Heather Bortfeld and Sylvia A. Bunge have written a new book, Fundamentals of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (Cambridge University Press, 2024), “an exciting introduction to the scientific interface between biological studies of the brain and behavioural studies of human development.”
Physical and Linguistic Aspects of Speech
Physical and Linguistic Aspects of Speech (Cress Books, 2024) presents physical theory of speech production contained in Acoustics of Speech Production and On Formants, both by Richard S. McGowan, in a largely non-mathematical way. Linguistic examples illustrate how the physical theory illuminates understanding of phonetic processes, and, to some extent, phonological models.
The Endangered Language Fund (ELF)
The Endangered Language Fund (ELF) is a 501(c)3 founded by Doug Whalen in 1996 with the goal of supporting endangered language revitalization and documentation projects. Its main mechanism for supporting work on endangered languages has been funding grants to individuals, tribes, and museums. ELF’s grants have promoted work in over 60 countries and have funded a wide range of projects,