Sandra Elaine Hutchins (born 1946) is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

and communications engineer. Her area of expertise is speech recognition, that is, programming computers to process

human voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

. Hutchins' main focus is writing programs that will allow computers to recognize and respond to spoken English, thereby removing the need for a keyboard.

Education

Hutchins received her B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, in 1967. During her undergraduate studies, Hutchins majored in physics and minored in linguistics. In 1970, she received her Ph.D. in computer science, also from the University of California, San Diego.

Career

Hutchins' current research is interdisciplinary, straddling the fields of linguistics, physics, and computer science. She has worked both at universities and with corporations and holds at least two

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

. One patent is for computer speech recognition programs that work in loud environments, and one patent concerns digital compression of speech. She began working at Purdue University as an assistant professor and electrical engineer in 1970 and continued with this position through 1972. Hutchins then became the senior staff engineer in communications with TRW Defense and Space Systems, where she worked until 1977. During part of her time with TRW, Hutchins also served as an instructor at Loyola Marymount University, teaching from 1973 to 1974. After leaving TRW, she assumed the role of engineering manager for Linkabit Corporations, from 1977 to 1979. She then became the software development manager for ITT Defense Communications Division, from 1981 to 1982. In 1983, Hutchins became Chief Technical Officer for Natural Speech Technologies, a job she held until 2001. While at Natural Speech Technologies, she supervised the development of many educational games, programs, software, and puzzles. Several of these games were displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in 1985, as part of an exhibit on American games. In 1992, she was one of the winners of the

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

National Search for Computing Applications to Assist People with Disabilities. Hutchins worked as the manager of Bloomberg LP in New York, from 2001 to 2018.

Memberships

Hutchins is a member of the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...

. She is also a member of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

Education

Career

Memberships

References

See also