Meaning

We are a unique community working together to develop an intuitively satisfying, formally explicit account of meaning in natural language—a scientific theory of communication that can explain our singularly human ability to connect with and learn from one another, and can pave the way for meaningful interaction with machines.

Our work embraces critical analysis, emprical study, formal methods and computational modeling—all pursued within a supportive and challenging environment shaped by the rich interconnections among our ideas and the overlapping topics of our investigations. The distinctive breadth and depth of Rutgers semantics PhDs establishes them as ideal candidates for appointments that reaffirm the centrality of meaning in bridging approaches to language from science, the humanities, and engineering.

Semantics at Rutgers builds on our strengths at the Center for Cognitive Science (RuCCS). RuCCS provides specialized training so that graduate students can easily master the technical prerequisites, perspectives and vocabulary needed to participate in interdisciplinary teams and cultivates a broad perspective on language, thought, learning and representation in the science of mind.