Assistant Professor Cara Stepp Named Hariri Institute 2014 Junior Faculty Fellow

Cara Stepp, assistant professor in the Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences and director of the Sensorimotor Rehabilitation Engineering Lab has been named a Hariri Institute 2014 Junior Faculty Fellow. Stepp is one of five professors selected for this honor by the Boston University Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering.

The Hariri Institute Junior Faculty Fellows program was established in 2011 both to recognize outstanding junior faculty at Boston University working in diverse areas of the computational sciences, as well as to provide focal points for supporting broader collaborative research in these areas at BU and beyond. Junior Fellows are selected by the Hariri Institute Executive Steering Committee based on nominations received each spring, and are appointed for a two-year term.

“Dr. Stepp is the epitome of that elusive scientist who works truly at the crossroads of disciplines,” said Professor Christopher A. Moore, Dean of College of Sargent College. “Her computational research, which involves imaginative and challenging problems in signal processing, is immediately applicable to a wide range of communicative impairments.  When many scientists are eager to speculate about how their work can find its way to improve the human condition, the importance of, and the compassion behind, Dr. Stepp’s work is self-evident. Her colleagues and collaborators across BU count themselves most fortunate to have in Sargent College someone of her technical capabilities, creative breadth, and rehabilitative focus.“

Stepp joined Sargent College in 2011. Her research focuses on the quantitative assessment of voice and speech function and the use of engineering tools to rehabilitate disordered sensorimotor function. She received the S.B. in Engineering Science from Smith College, S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology.

Over the next several months, each of the Junior Faculty Fellows will be giving a Hariri Institute Distinguished Lecture. For more information, please visit the Institute’s web site.