Michigan State University’s associate professor Catherine Ryu has won this year’s Esperanto “Access to Language Education” Award.
Ryu, who teaches Japanese literature, received the award for creating Tone Perfect, an online database of the Mandarin language. The online database that includes the full catalog of monosyllabic sounds in four classic Mandarin tones was developed in collaboration with MSU libraries digital team.
The award was presented by Computer Assisted Language Consortium ( CALICO), the Esperantic Studies Foundation, and Lernu.net.
“The unintended positive outcome was an award-winning tone library that has become a strong resource for education and research. This is a great example of how working with a tech transfer office can maximize access to resources developed at MSU,” Anne C. Di Sante, CLP, associate director at MSU Technologies said.
Ryu has also done research in global studies, game studies, zainichi studies, classic Japanese literature, gender studies and Heian narratives.