James Curran (linguist)
James R. Curran is a computational linguist and was a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney and former CEO of Grok Academy. He holds a PhD in Informatics from the University of Edinburgh.
Research
[edit]Curran's research focuses on natural language processing,[1] making him one of the few Australian computational linguists. Specifically Curran's research has focused on the area of natural language processing known as combinatory categorial grammar parsing. In addition to his contributions to NLP, Curran has produced a paper on the development of search engines to assist in driving problem based learning.[2]
Within NLP, he has published papers on combinatory categorial grammar parsing as well as question answering systems.[3]
Works
[edit]Curran has co-authored software packages such as C&C tools,[4] a CCG parser (with Stephen Clark).[5]
Educational work
[edit]In addition to his work as a University of Sydney lecturer, Curran directed the National Computer Science School, an annual summer school for technologically talented high school students.[6] In 2013, based on their work with NCSS, he and a number of other organisers founded Grok Learning.
In 2013 he was one of the authors of the Digital Technologies section of the Australian Curriculum - it's first appearance in the national curriculum.[7] Additionally, he acted as an advocate for digital literacy among Australian students.[8][9]
He was the academic director of the Australian Computing Academy, a not-for-profit within the University of Sydney[10] until it's merger with Grok Learning in 2021 to form Grok Academy.[11]
Harassment allegations
[edit]In October 2024 he resigned from his position as CEO and board member of Grok Academy after multiple allegations of harassment were substantiated by an independent investigator.[12] It was reported that over a 10-year span there were nine women, including six who were in high school at the time, that allege Curran sent them inappropriate messages.
Additionally, it was revealed that a 2019 University of Sydney investigation found 35 cases of harassment, after which he received a warning and a 2024 University of New South Wales investigation was referred to the NSW police, who took no action as they found no criminal wrongdoing by Curran, in part because the students were over 16 at the time of the alleged harassment.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ "Scientific Commons". Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
- ^ Steven Bird; James R. Curran. "Building a Search Engine to Drive Problem-Based Learning" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2008.
- ^ "James R. Curran - Publications". James R. Curran Homepage. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 10 June 2010.
- ^ "C&C tools". svn.ask.it.usyd.edu.au/trac/candc. 24 June 2007. Archived from the original on 24 June 2007.
- ^ James R. Curran; Stephen Clark; Johan Bos. "Linguistically Motivated Large-Scale NLP with C&C and Boxer" (PDF).
- ^ "NCSS". Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ https://dynamicbusiness.com/featured/founder-friday/founder-friday-a-conversation-with-the-man-behind-grok-academy.html
- ^ "PyCon Australia keynote announcement". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
- ^ "Python for Every Child in Australia". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
- ^ https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/grok-academy-s-founder-resigns-with-workplace-investigation-underway-20240911-p5k9qt
- ^ https://acsw.core.edu.au/speaker/dr-james-curran
- ^ a b Swan, David (2024-10-04). "'God-like' coding educator accused of harassment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
External links
[edit]- Homepage at the University of Sydney Archived 2008-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
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