PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Allen Gersho

Also known as A. Gersho

Allen Gersho is an electrical engineer whose vector quantization work helped improve speech coding at very low bit rates. After earning degrees at MIT and Cornell, he worked in AT&T Bell Labs' research division and joined UCSB as a professor. With Robert Gray, he coauthored a 1992 reference book on vector quantization and a low-rate speech-coding paper with Oded Gottesman in 2001. He received the 2007 IEEE speech and audio award and is a professor emeritus in UC Santa Barbara's Electrical and Computer Engineering department as of October 2026.

Works
294
Citations
21,883
h-index
52
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1960–1963

    MIT and Cornell degrees

    He earns a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at MIT in 1960 and completes a PhD in electrical engineering at Cornell in 1963.

  2. 1963–1980

    Research at Bell Labs

    He works in the research division of AT&T Bell Labs from 1963 to 1980.

  3. 1980–1999

    Professor at UCSB

    He joins UCSB as a professor in 1980 and takes early retirement from the university in 1999.

  4. 1992

    Vector Quantization and Signal Compression

    With Robert M. Gray, he coauthors Vector Quantization and Signal Compression in 1992; the book becomes a standard reference on vector quantization. His work in vector quantization improves speech-coding efficiency at very low bit rates.

  5. 1996–2000

    CEO of SignalCom

    He leads SignalCom as CEO from 1996 to 2000; the company is sold to Microsoft in 2000.

  6. 2001

    Low-rate speech coding

    With Oded Gottesman, he coauthors a paper on enhanced waveform interpolation for low-bit-rate speech coding in 2001.

  7. 2007

    An IEEE speech award

    He receives the IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award in 2007.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor emeritus at UCSB

    As of October 2026, he is a professor emeritus in UC Santa Barbara's Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

Career

  1. Since 1980University of California, Santa BarbaraProfessor
  2. 1974–1979AT&T
  3. 1963–1980Bell Labs

Education

  1. 1963Cornell UniversityPhD
  2. 1960Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBachelor's degree in electrical engineering

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Santa Barbara. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of California, Santa Barbara. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of California, Santa Barbara. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of California, Santa Barbara. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Allen Gersho - Engineering and Technology History Wiki ethw.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Allen Gersho - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Vector Quantization and Signal Compression - Allen Gersho, Robert M. Gray - Google Books books.google.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Waveform Interpolative Speech Coding web.ece.ucsb.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award ethw.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Emeriti Faculty | Electrical and Computer Engineering | UC Santa Barbara ece.ucsb.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.