Speech tech pioneer Jim Flanagan to lead MSU seminar next week
November 23, 2005
A Mississippi State alumnus recognized worldwide for his scientific contributions in speech technology will lead a Wednesday [Nov. 30] seminar focusing on evolving techniques for multimodal communication.
Jim Flanagan, a Greenwood native and 1948 electrical engineering graduate, will speak from 3-4 p.m. in Chester McKee Auditorium of the Simrall Engineering Building. The public program also will examine human/machine communication.
Experts in the field have credited Flanagan for championing ideas that contributed to the development of modern automatic speech-recognition systems, audio codecs such as MP3 and modern voice-over, Internet protocol technology.
“If I’m sitting at a (computer) screen with a map display, I could point to an icon and then at a location and say, ‘Move this there,’ and the system would do it,” Flanagan said in a recent interview. “That’s a long-range challenge that will involve linguists, computer scientists and engineers.”
A guest of the Bagley College of Engineering’s department of electrical and computer engineering, Flanagan also will be meeting with President Charles Lee, as well as MSU engineering majors and faculty members. The faculty discussion will involve an initiative to establish a telecommunications laboratory within the department.
“He remains technically engaged and we are eager to hear his views as they relate to our telecommunications initiative and his vision for future research in a global environment,” said department head Jim Harden.
During a 33-year career at Bell Laboratories, Flanagan developed the Audix One voice-mail system. He also worked on the artificial larynx and on electronic hearing devices before retiring from Bell in 1990. Earlier this year, he retired for a second time from Rutgers University, where he had served in several capacities since 1990.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded Flanagan the National Medal of Science for merging engineering techniques with speech science to solve basic problems in speech communication. U.S. presidents have presented the award annually since 1959 to recognize outstanding contributions in the physical, biological, mathematical or engineering sciences.
Flanagan also is a recipient of the L.M. Ericsson International Prize in Telecommunications, Edison Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Medal of the European Speech Communication Association, and Gold Medal of the Acoustical Society of America.
“Jim may be Mississippi State University’s most honored graduate and his visit elevates us all,” said Harden, also a professor in the department.
During his career at Bell, Flanagan was responsible for obtaining 46 patents. His expertise and computational techniques in research and development provided a foundation for today’s information technology.
His interests now include evolving techniques for automatic speech synthesis and recognition, voice communications, computer techniques and electroacoustic systems.
Raised on a Mississippi Delta cotton farm, Flanagan entered then Mississippi State College as a freshman in 1943. He completed a bachelor’s degree in 1948 after his studies were interrupted by a three-year hitch in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
He earned master’s and doctoral degrees, respectively, in 1950 and 1955, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Between completing advanced degrees at the New England school, he taught at MSU for two years.
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