Philosophy's Scott Weinstein Receives the 2020 Association for Computational Linguistics Test-of-Time Award

Weinstein pic v2

Scott Weinstein, Professor of Philosophy, received the 2020 Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) Test-of-Time Award for "Centering: A Framework for Modeling the Local Coherence of Discourse," a paper he coauthored with the late Aravind Joshi, formerly the Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science at Penn, and Barbara Grosz of Harvard University. The article, which was published in Computational Linguistics in June 1995, examines relationships among focus of attention, choice of referring expression, and perceived coherence of utterances within a discourse segment.

Weinstein's research interests include logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and cognitive science. He holds secondary appointments in the Department of Computer and Information Science and Department of Mathematics and is a member of the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science and the Logic and Computation Group.

Each year, the ACL Test-of-Time awards recognize up to four papers for their lasting impact on the computational linguistics field: two papers from 25 years earlier, and two papers from 10 years earlier.

Read the full announcement here.

Read our OMNIA article, Truth, Math, and Philosophy, which features Weinstein, here.

Arts & Sciences News

Marisa C. Kozlowski Named Next Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences

Kozlowski, who joined the Penn faculty in 1997, succeeds Mark Trodden, who transitions to the Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences on June 1.

View Article >
One Fourth Year, One Alum Receive 2025 Hertz Fellowship

Eric Tao, C’25, Gr’25 (left), and Suraj Chandran, C’23, were awarded the honor, part of a group of 19 fellows selected this year. Each one receives five years of funding toward a doctoral program.

View Article >
Benjamin Nathans Wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction

Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History, won for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”

View Article >
Mark Devlin Elected to National Academy of Sciences

He joins three others from Penn to receive the honor this year, all recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

View Article >
Michael Jones-Correa and Sophia Rosenfeld Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They join three others from the University of Pennsylvania, selected as part of the Academy’s mission to convene leaders from “every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together.”

View Article >
Eva Del Soldato Awarded 2025-26 Rome Prize

She joins Sean Burkholder, of the Weitzman School of Design, and just 33 others in receiving the prestigious honor from the American Academy in Rome.

View Article >