PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Christiane Fellbaum

Also known as Christiane D. Fellbaum

Christiane Fellbaum is a Princeton computational linguist and co-developer of WordNet, a lexical database used in natural language processing. She earned a linguistics Ph.D. at Princeton in 1980, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Paris, and returned as a research scientist in 1987. She edited the 1998 volume WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database, co-founded the Global WordNet Association, and served as its co-president from 2000 to 2021. In 2001, she won the Wolfgang Paul Prize and directed a German collocations project at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences; she received the Antonio Zampolli Prize in 2006. As of October 2026, she is a lecturer with rank of professor at Princeton and co-directs an African-language AI lab while advising a senior thesis on Yorùbá diacritics.

Works
248
Citations
11,760
h-index
42
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1980

    A linguistics doctorate

    She earns a Ph.D. in linguistics at Princeton in 1980 and completes a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Paris.

  2. 1987

    Developing WordNet

    She returns to Princeton as a research scientist in 1987. At the Cognitive Science Laboratory, she works with George A. Miller to develop WordNet, a lexical database used in computational linguistics and natural language processing.

  3. 1998

    Editing WordNet's reference volume

    In 1998, she edits WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database, a volume that explains the system's design and surveys applications such as word-sense identification and information retrieval.

  4. 2000–2021

    Co-leading the Global WordNet Association

    She co-founds the Global WordNet Association and serves as co-president from 2000 to 2021.

  5. 2001

    A Wolfgang Paul Prize project

    In 2001, she wins the Wolfgang Paul Prize and directs the “Kollokationen im Woerterbuch” project at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.

  6. 2006

    An Antonio Zampolli Prize

    She receives the Antonio Zampolli Prize in 2006.

  7. As of October 2026

    African-language AI research

    She is a lecturer with rank of professor at Princeton and co-directs its African Language Technologies Lab with Happy Buzaaba. The lab aims to expand African-language representation in NLP, large language models, and AI. In 2026, she co-advises a senior thesis comparing statistical methods and large language models for Yorùbá diacritic restoration.

Career

  1. Since 1987Princeton UniversityResearch Scientist
  2. 2001Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesProject Director
  3. 2000–2021Global WordNet AssociationCo-founder and Co-president
  4. University of ParisPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 1980Princeton UniversityPhD

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

Most-cited works

  1. Introduction to WordNet: An On-line Lexical Database1990 · International Journal of Lexicography · 4,197 citations
  2. An Electronic Lexical Database1998 · 727 citations
  3. Semantic networks of english1991 · Cognition · 450 citations
  4. WordNet2010 · Springer eBooks · 359 citations
  5. English Verbs as a Semantic Net1990 · International Journal of Lexicography · 275 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Princeton University. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Princeton University. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  3. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes Princeton University. We estimate how 14,272 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs and government research centers, with net flows and the most common paths.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Princeton University. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Christiane Fellbaum cs.princeton.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. TSD 2010 Keynote Speakers tsdconference.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database books.google.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. The Board | Global WordNet Association globalwordnet.github.io. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. African Language Technologies Lab cdh.princeton.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Senior thesis combined passions for computer science and linguistics engineering.princeton.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.