SRI International Announces Recipients of Its 2010 Fellowship Award

MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development institute, has announced its 2010 Fellowship Award recipients. The Fellowship Award, established in 1980, is SRI's highest recognition for technical, scientific, or professional contributions. This year, SRI's selection committee has chosen three Fellows: Thomas Kilduff, Elizabeth Shriberg, and Mary Wagner.

Thomas Kilduff, Ph.D., is a senior director of SRI's Center for Neuroscience. He co-discovered the brain peptides known as hypocretins, a major discovery in sleep research that led to the recognition that the sleep disorder narcolepsy is a neurodegenerative disease. Since the initial discovery, Kilduff has been instrumental in mapping the anatomy and electrophysiology of the hypocretin system and is currently involved in therapeutic development for the treatment of narcolepsy. His laboratory has recently described a rare population of neurons that is activated in the cerebral cortex during sleep, a time when most cortical cells are quiescent. In December 2009, he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Elizabeth Shriberg, Ph.D., is a senior research psycholinguist in SRI's Speech Technology and Research (STAR) Laboratory. She has made fundamental contributions to speech science and technology by modeling how people really talk. The models capture "beyond words" information such as prosody, and have been applied to a range of automatic spoken language understanding tasks. In 2009, Shriberg received the International Speech Communication Association Fellow Award.

Mary Wagner, Ph.D., is the co-director of SRI's Center for Education and Human Services. She is a leading researcher in the field of special education research and has played a vital role in the transformation of special education in America. Wagner is a preeminent pioneer in conducting large-scale, national policy-relevant research for children and youth with disabilities. The National Longitudinal Transition Study, perhaps the most influential study conducted in special education and conducted under her direction, has completely changed the national landscape for secondary school education and transition (school-to-work) experiences for students with special needs. Wagner is also a past recipient of SRI's Mimi Award, the institute's highest recognition for staff members who inspire co-workers and contribute to their professional development and success. Mimi Award winners are nominated by their SRI peers.

For more information about SRI's Fellowship Award, please visit: http://www.sri.com/about/people/fellows/sri_fellows.html

About SRI International

Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. SRI, which was founded by Stanford University as Stanford Research Institute in 1946 and became independent in 1970, has been meeting the strategic needs of clients and partners for more than 60 years. Perhaps best known for its invention of the computer mouse and interactive computing, SRI has also been responsible for major advances in networking and communications, robotics, drug discovery and development, advanced materials, atmospheric research, education research, economic development, national security, and more. The nonprofit institute performs sponsored research and development for government agencies, businesses, and foundations. SRI also licenses its technologies, forms strategic alliances, and creates spin-off companies. In 2009, SRI's consolidated revenues, including its wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation, were approximately $470 million. Sarnoff Corporation, a leader in vision, video, and semiconductor innovations, will be fully integrated into SRI effective January 1, 2011.

SOURCE SRI International