Philip Resnik, PhD

Professor, University of Maryland

Philip Resnik is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Maryland, with a joint appointment at the University of Maryland Institute for  Advanced Computer Studies and an affiliate appointment in Computer Science. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Harvard in 1987, and his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science at University of Pennsylvania in 1993. He joined the University of Maryland faculty in 1996. 

Outside academia, Resnik has spent time in industry R&D at Bolt Beranek and Newman, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, and Sun Microsystems Laboratories. In addition, he is a serial entrepreneur, with experience that includes being technical co-founder of CodeRyte (acquired in 2012 by 3M Health Information Systems) and Thematically, and an advisor to Converseon, SoloSegment, and FiscalNote. 

Resnik’s research focuses on methods for combining machine learning and human insight to solve practical problems, as well as computational models of human language processing. His current work focuses on computational social science, with an emphasis on connecting the signal available in people’s language use with underlying mental state. Central applications for this work are computational political science, particularly in connection with ideology and framing, and mental health, where evidence from linguistic behavior shows promise in helping to identify and monitor depression, suicidality, and schizophrenia.

He holds two patents and has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and conference papers. At various times his work has been highlighted in Newsweek, The Economist, New Scientist, and on National Public Radio, and he has been a repeat organizer and panelist at SXSW Interactive.