KAREN ALKOBY Education Research Interests Experiences

Education
KAREN ALKOBY
800 Florida Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20002
karen.alkoby@gallaudet.edu
2008 DePaul University, Ph.D., Computer Science
Dissertation: An Analytic Model for Handshape Similarity in American Sign Language
2000 University of Colorado at Boulder - The Graduate School, ASL Linguistic Structure.
1999 DePaul University, M.S., Information Systems.
1986 DePaul University, Computer Career Program, Certificate
1984 Gallaudet University, B.A., Psychology.
Research Interests
• Co-founder with Dr. Wolfe – DePaul ‘s ASL Project, www.cs.asl.depaul.edu
• ASL Linguistics
Experiences
• Associate Researcher, Institut de Researche en Informatique de Toulouse, Toulouse,
France, Fall 2008
• Instructor, Deaf Adults Education Access Program, Present
Teaching Deaf immigrants in ASL, written English, and citizenship preparation
• ASL tutor, Present
• ASL Level 3 instructor, University of Illinois at Champaign, IL, Department of Speech and
Hearing Science; August 2007 – December 2007
• ASL Level I instructor, Levy Senior Citizen center in Evanston IL; February 2006 –
February 2007
• Technical Analyst, Trans Union, October 2000 – December 2006
Driving IT initiative to align business requirement with technical system implementation.
The position has many functions ranging from leading new projects, identifying change
requests, coordinating the release, analyzing, designing, programming, testing and
implementing business processes.
• Technical Consultant, System & Programming Resource, Inc.; October 1994 – August
1999. Consulting and supporting client’s requests ranges from being a team leader,
coordinating with a developmental team ranges from analyzing, designing, programming,
testing and implementing.
• Programmer Analyst, Illinois Department of Employment Service; March 1992 – October
1994
• Volunteered in teaching at Niv, a deaf school in Tel-Aviv, Israel; September 1984 –
January 1985
• Tactile sign language interpreter in ASL for a blind student; Gallaudet University 1982-
1984

• Tutored in Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, Algebra, and Sex Education; Gallaudet
University, 1981-1984
Refereed Conference Proceedings
Karen Alkoby. Toward True ASL Dictionaries: New Development in Handshape Similarity. Deaf Studies Today!
2008: Montage, Orem, Utah, April 10-12, 2008
Rosalee Wolfe, Nora Alba, Stacey Billups, Mary Jo Davidson, Cindy Dwyer, Diana Gorman
Jamrozik, Lori Smallwood, Karen Alkoby, Lesley Carhart, Damien Hinkle, Amy Hitt, Brian
Kirchman, Glenn Lancaster, John McDonald, Lindsay Semler, Jerry Schnepp, Brent Shiver,
Anna Suh, Jeffrey Young. An Improved Tool for Fingerspelling Recognition. Technology
and Persons with Disabilities Conference 2006. California State University at Northridge, Los
Angeles, CA March 20-25, 2006.
John McDonald, Rosalee Wolfe, Karen Alkoby, Roymeico Carter, Mary Jo Davidson, Jacob
Furst, Damien Hinkle, Bret Kroll, Glenn Lancaster, Lori Smallwood, Nedjla Ougouag, Jerry
Schnepp, Achieving Consistency in an FK/IK Interface for a Seven Degree of
Freedom Kinematic Chain. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference in Central
Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Interactive Digital Media 2005, Plzen, Czech
Republic, February 2005, pp 171-179.
Alba, N., Billups, S., Wolfe, R., Dwyer, C., Davidson, M.J., Alkoby, K., McDonald, J., Tsang, R.,
Toro, J., Young, J., Lancaster, G., Schmidt, P., Mansueto, J., Schnepp, J., Shiver, B. . A
Fingerspelling Learning Tool [presentation]. DePaul Science Showcase, Chicago, IL.
November 5, 2004.
Glenn Lancaster, Karen Alkoby, Jeff Campen, Roymieco Carter, Mary Jo Davidson, Dan
Ethridge, Jacob Furst, Damien Hinkle, Bret Kroll, Ryan Layesa, Barbara Loeding, John
McDonald, Nedjla Ougouag, Jerry Schnepp, Lori Smallwood, Prabhakar Srinivasan, Jorge
Toro, Rosalee Wolfe. Voice Activated Display of American Sign Language for Airport
Security. Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference 2003. California State
University at Northridge, Los Angeles, CA March 17-22, 2003.
Jacob Furst, Karen Alkoby, Nedjla Ougouag-Tiouririne, Roymiceo Carter, Juliet Christopher,
Mary Jo Davidson, Dan Ethridge, Damien Hinkle, Glenn Lancaster, John McDonald, Lori
Smallwood, Jorge Toro, Shuang Xu, Rosalee Wolfe. Making Airport Security Accessible to
the Deaf. Proceedings of the Fifth IASTAD International Conference on Computer Graphics
and Imaging, Kaua'i, HI, August 2002. pp. 38-43.
John McDonald, Karen Alkoby, Roymieco Carter, Juliet Christopher, Mary Jo Davidson, Dan
Ethridge, Jacob Furst, Damien Hinkle, Glenn Lancaster, Lori Smallwood, Nedjla Ougouag-
Tiouririne, Jorge Toro, Shuang Xu, Rosalee Wolfe, A Direct Method for Positioning the
Arms of a Human Model. Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2002, May 27-29, 2002,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 99-106.
John McDonald, Jorge Toro, Karen Alkoby, André Berthiaume, Roymieco Carter, Pattaraporn
Chomwong, Juliet Christopher, Mary Jo Davidson, Jacob Furst, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster,
Lopa Roychoudhuri, Eric Sedgwick, Noriko Tomuro, Rosalee Wolfe: An improved articulated
model of the human hand. The Visual Computer 17 (3) May 2001. 158-166.

Jorge Toro, Jacob Furst, Karen Alkoby, Roymieco Carter, Juliet Christopher, Brock Craft, May
Jo Davidson, Damien Hinkle, Glenn Lancaster, Ashley Morris, John McDonald, Eric Sedgwick,
Rosalee Wolfe. An Improved Graphical Environment for Transcription and Display of
American Sign Language. Information 4 (4) October 2001. 533-539.
Mary Jo Davidson, Karen Alkoby, Eric Sedgwick, Roymieco Carter, Juliet Christopher, Brock
Craft, Jacob Furst, Damien Hinkle, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steve Luecking, Ashley
Morris, John McDonald, Noriko Tomuro, Jorge Toro, Rosalee Wolfe. Improved Hand
Animation for American Sign Language. “Technology and Persons with Disabilities”
Conference 2001. California State University at Northridge, Los Angeles, CA. March 19-24,
2001.
Eric Sedgwick, Karen Alkoby, Mary Jo Davidson, Roymieco Carter, Juliet Christopher, Brock
Craft, Jacob Furst, Damien Hinkle, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steve Luecking, Ashley
Morris, John McDonald, Noriko Tomuro, Jorge Toro, Rosalee Wolfe. Toward the Effective
Animation of American Sign Language. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference in
Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Interactive Digital Media. Plyen,
Czech Republic, February 6 - 9, 2001. 375-378.
Brock Craft, Damien Hinkle, Eric Sedgwick, Karen Alkoby, Mary Jo Davidson, Roymieco
Carter, Juliet Christopher, Jacob Furst, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steve Luecking, Ashley
Morris, John McDonald, Noriko Tomuro, Jorge Toro, Rosalee Wolfe. An Approach To
Modeling Facial Expressions Used In American Sign Language. Presented At The 2000
DePaul CTI Research Conference, Chicago, IL November 4, 2000.
Mary Jo Davidson, Karen Alkoby, Eric Sedgwick, Andre Berthiaume, Roymieco Carter, Juliet
Christopher, Brock Craft, Jacob Furst, Damien Hinkle, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steve
Luecking, Ashley Morris, John McDonald, Noriko Tomuro, Jorge Toro, Rosalee Wolfe.
Usability Testing of Computer Animation of Fingerspelling for American Sign
Language. Presented at the 2000 DePaul CTI Research Conference, Chicago, IL, November
4, 2000.
Jacob Furst, Karen Alkoby, Andre Berthiaume, Pattaraporn Chomwong, Mary Jo Davidson,
Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steven Lytinen, John McDonald, Lopa Roychoudhuri, Jorge
Toro, Noriko Tomuro, Rosalee Wolfe. Database Design for American Sign Language.
Proceedings of the ISCA 15th International Conference on Computers and Their Applications
(CATA-2000). 427-430.
John McDonald, Jorge Toro, Karen Alkoby, Andre Berthiaume, Pattaraporn Chomwong, Juliet
Christopher, Mary Jo Davidson, Jacob Furst, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steven Lytinen,
Lopa Roychoudhuri, Eric Sedgwick, Noriko Tomuro, Rosalee Wolfe. An Improved
Articulated Model of the Human Hand. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference in
Central Europe on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Interactive Digital Media. 2000. 306 -
313.
Noriko Tomuro, Karen Alkoby, Andre Berthiaume, Pattaraporn Chomwong, Mary Jo Davidson,
Jacob Furst, Brian Konie, Glenn Lancaster, Steven Lytinen, John McDonald, Lopa
Roychoudhuri, Jorge Toro, Rosalee Wolfe. An Alternative Method for Building A Database
for American Sign Language. “Technology and Persons with Disabilities" Conference 2000.
California State University at Northridge, Los Angeles, CA March 20-25, 2000.

Rosalee Wolfe, Karen Alkoby, Jamita Barnett, Pattaraporn Chomwong, Jacob Furst, Gary
Honda, Glenn Lancaster, Frank "Tony" Lavoie, Steven Lytinen, John McDonald, Lopa
Roychoudhuri, Carolyn Taylor, Noriko Tomuro, Jorge Toro. An Interface for Transcribing
American Sign Language. SIGGRAPH 99 Sketches, August 11, 1999, pp. 229-230.
Refereed Conference Presentations
• Karen Alkoby. How many sentences are there? , Presented at the SignWISE Working toward insight,
Scholarship, and Enlightment workshop, August 5-8 2004, Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.
• Karen Alkoby. DePaul ASL Synthesizer Project , Presented 46th Biennial National Association of the Deaf
(NAD) Conference, Washington, D.C., July 3–8, 2002
• Karen Alkoby Contributed and Presented for Davidson, MaryJo. Improved Hand Animation for American
Sign Language. “Technology and Persons with Disabilities” Conference 2001. California State University at
Northridge, Los Angeles, CA. March 19-24, 2001.
• Karen Alkoby and Eric Sedgwick, Using a Computer to Fingerspell. Presented and conducted an initial
usability testing at DeafExpo 99, San Diego, CA, November 19-22, 1999.
• Karen Alkoby. Interface for Transcribing American Sign Language. Presented at ACM SIGGRAPH 99’
- 26 th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Technique, Los Angeles CA, August 8-
13, 1999.
DePaul CTI Research Symposium Proceedings
• Karen Alkoby. Toward True ASL Dictionaries: New Development in Handshape Similarity. Paper and
presented at the DePaul CDM/CTI Research Symposium, Chicago, IL May 3, 2008, page 43- 53.
•
• Karen Alkoby. Exploring the relationship of geometric data to perception of ASL handshapes. Poster
Abstract at the 2007 DePaul CTI Research Symposium Proceeding, Chicago, IL, May 5, 2007, page 104-105.
• Karen Alkoby. A Survey of ASL Tenses. Presented at the 1999 DePaul CTI Research Symposium
Proceeding, Chicago, IL, November 6, 1999, page 116-123.
Awards and Grants
• 1978 and 1977 awards to attend Youth Leadership Camp in Minnesota.
• 1999 William C. Stokoe Scholarship Award. Support for this award comes from sales of Sign Language and
the Deaf Community, a publication of the National Association of the Deaf.
• 2004 NSF Travel grant to attend Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research Conference (TISLR 8) in
Barcelona, Sep 8 - Oct 2 2004.
• 2004 Volunteer Appreciation Award, Illinois Department of Human Services
• 2007 CTI Research Symposium Proceeding - Best Poster Award