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Degree Programs at UMD

Language science is by nature multidisciplinary and our programs support students in actively crossing departmental and university boundaries. The language science initiative provides students with the flexibility to create individualized programs of study involving combinations of faculty mentors. The list of programs and specializations below is just a starting point, and our current students and faculty mentors are happy to answer questions about the programs and about particular areas of interest. 

PhD Programs

  • Biology: auditory neuroscience
  • Communication: disciplinary methods of inquiry, communication concepts and theories, specialized research problems
  • Computer Science: natural language processing, machine translation, machine learning, computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence.
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering: digital speech processing, auditory neuroscience, biological signal processing
  • English: rhetoric, writing, text analysis, semantics
  • Hearing and Speech Sciences: disorders of speech and hearing, typical and atypical language development, cochlear implants, neurocognitive disorders (e.g., autism), aphasia, stuttering
  • Human Development: reading and literacy, bilingual language development, cognitive neuroscience, language and gesture
  • Information Studies: natural language processing, information retrieval
  • Linguistics: syntax, semantics, phonology, psycholinguistics, cognitive neuroscience, first language acquisition, natural language processing, computational psycholinguistics
  • Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (interdepartmental graduate program): individualized PhD and certificate programs that draw on the combined expertise of participating departments
  • Psychology: developmental cognitive neuroscience, language production, language and cognition, auditory neuroscience
  • Philosophy: semantics, philosophy of language and mind, logic
  • School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures: includes multiple departments focusing on specific languages
  • Second Language Acquisition (graduate-only program within the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures): adult language learning, critical periods, aptitude, language proficiency testing, psycholinguistics of SLA
  • Special Education: language, literacy, and special education
  • Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership: English education, literacy education, reading education, second language/TESOL 

Other Degrees

The University of Maryland also offers a wide variety of professional graduate degrees related to language science.