Katherine Safford Harris’ academic family tree

Abstract

At Haskins Laboratories, Katherine Harris lead a research team of engineers, programmers, technicians, ENT physicians, and fellow scientists to study speech production. As the reputation of this innovative research program grew, students, post-doctoral fellows, and visiting scientists from many universities and international laboratories came to join Kathy in this effort. Her contributions to training doctoral students grew when she became a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center. She was a pioneer role model especially—but not exclusively—for women scientists. Her enthusiasm and dedication to science attracted a host of students and young scientists who have gone on to academic research careers in Speech Communication. Kathy nurtured her students, always ready to listen and encourage, guiding but never pushing them through their degrees, and always keeping sight of the person.