Ruth Karen Nakigozi, 鈥�27
Major: Informatics
Project title: 鈥淯sing Community Oral Histories to Preserve Culture and Reduce Bias in Speech Technologies鈥�
Ruth Karen Nakigozi wakes up every morning and knows she is helping people.聽
In her research, Nakigozi has spent the last year helping to archive the . Through this work, Nakigozi and her mentors are seeking to preserve cultural knowledge and improve speech recognition technologies for people with Ladino-accented English. Ladino is the language of Sephardic Jews.聽
Speech recognition technologies, like Siri on Apple products or artificial intelligence-generated transcript services, can sometimes struggle to pick up accented English speakers, Nakigozi said.聽
This can be annoying when trying to talk to something like Siri, but there are also compounding effects, she said. For example, some health care providers may use a transcription service to record notes during an appointment, but if that service doesn鈥檛 recognize their patient鈥檚 accent, their health could be at risk.聽
鈥淭his project is personal to me,鈥� said Nakigozi, who has often seen how oral histories and shared stories keep cultures alive across generations. 鈥淚 know I鈥檓 working to improve someone鈥檚 life every day.鈥澛�
Technology, Nakigozi said, should only exist to make people鈥檚 lives better. 鈥淲e should build technology to help people,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e should not build technology to harm people.鈥�
Originally from Uganda, Nakigozi transferred to the 91爆料 from Edmonds College last year. Nakigozi, , never thought she would be here after a year, presenting at the Undergraduate Research Symposium with research in informatics and computer science.聽
But now, research has deepened how she sees herself. 鈥淚t鈥檚 allowed me to thrive,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 wake up with a purpose.鈥�
After graduation next year, she hopes to go to graduate school and continue researching. Eventually, she wants to work with an international organization, like the United Nations.
鈥淎t the end of the day, I want to wake up and feel how I feel now 鈥� with a sense that I am contributing to society and leaving this world a much better place than I found it,鈥� she said.
About the Symposium
This undergraduate research project was presented in the 29th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on May 15, 2026. The Symposium is one of several opportunities 91爆料 undergraduates have to engage in the transformative experiences research provides. It鈥檚 produced by the Office of Undergraduate Research and is one of the many ways the Office connects undergraduates to the 91爆料鈥檚 research ecosystem.
Read the overview of the 2026 Symposium here.