Catherine G. Wolf
Also known as Catherine Gody Wolf
Wolf was a psychologist and human-computer interaction researcher whose work helped computers handle speech and everyday input. She joined Bell Labs in 1977 and later IBM's Watson Research Center, where she designed and tested interfaces and worked on the Conversation Machine for telephone banking. Her research covered healthcare-system design and function measurement in advanced ALS; an eyebrow-controlled keyboard helped her keep communicating as the disease limited her movement. Tufts University gave her its Distinguished Service Award in 2003, and she died in 2018.
- Works
- 43
- Citations
- 530
- h-index
- 13
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.
Timeline
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1973
Speech perception at Brown
She studies psychology at Tufts, researches how children perceive speech at Brown, and publishes a 1973 paper on children's speech perception.
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1977
Bell Labs human factors
She joins Bell Labs as a human factors manager in 1977.
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1985
Research at IBM Watson
She joins IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a research psychologist in 1985. There, she designs and tests interfaces for human speech, gesture and handwriting.
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1995–1998
Healthcare systems and the Conversation Machine
The 1995 CHI program lists her on IBM's demonstrations team. In 1997, she and John Karat publish a study on the design of three healthcare systems. In 1998, she coauthors "Conversation Machines for Transaction Processing," a telephone-banking system that lets users do banking by speaking to a computer.
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2003
A Tufts service award
She receives Tufts University's Distinguished Service Award in 2003.
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2009
ALS research and keyboard
She coauthors a 2009 paper that extends the ALSFRS-R with items to measure function in people with advanced ALS. An eyebrow switch lets her use a scanning keyboard to write and communicate as the disease limits her movement.
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2012
Retiring from IBM
After going on long-term disability in 2004, she officially retires from IBM in 2012.
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2018
Death in Katonah
She dies in 2018 at home in Katonah, New York.
Sources and credits
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