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FreeClimb Research Team

Enhancing everyday communications

We're passionate about AI research that enhances the everyday experience for the millions of users interacting with our technology. We focus on implementing the latest architectures and algorithms and creating cutting-edge solutions in areas like speech recognition, text-to-speech, and speaker verification.

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our philosophy

Turning raw data into real impact

We work at the intersection of ML Research and ML Engineering. To a great extent, it is hard to decouple these two disciplines. ML, at its heart, is an empirical discipline. The theoretical foundations of ML are sound in certain areas and evolving in other areas as we continue to push the envelope. The projects we work on involve natural language processing, computational linguistics, large language models (LLMs), networking, security, knowledge acquisition, insight generation, and related areas.

We firmly believe in the “farm-to-table” approach to ML: where possible, we curate our own data to train our own models, and productize them through our unique ML operations (MLOps) approach for better customer experience. As part of this process, we gather new insights which we publish at peer-reviewed conferences and disseminate as technical talks.

Black and white monochromatic image of a seated woman and man looking at a laptop in an office space. Two men stand in the background talking together.

Our philosophy

We work at the intersection of ML Research and ML Engineering. To a great extent, it is hard to decouple these two disciplines. ML, at its heart, is an empirical discipline. The theoretical foundations of ML are sound in certain areas and evolving in other areas as we continue to push the envelope. The projects we work on involve natural language processing, computational linguistics, large language models (LLMs), networking, security, knowledge acquisition, insight generation, and related areas.

We firmly believe in the “Farm to Table” approach to ML: where possible, we curate our own data to train our own models, and productize them through our unique ML operations (MLOps) approach for better customer experience. As part of this process, we gather new insights which we publish at peer-reviewed conferences and disseminate as technical talks.

our team

Meet the minds behind the breakthroughs

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Joseph Black

Data Scientist I

With diverse experience in the ML industry and research, Joseph is passionate about building robust systems inspired by new technological discoveries. He holds an M.S./B.S. in Computer Science from University of Massachusetts Amherst and was a UMass Amherst Bay State Fellow.

Research Interests
Speech Recognition
Machine Learning Operations
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Vijay K. Gurbani

Chief Data Scientist

Vijay has authored and co-authored over 75 papers, 5 books, 19 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFCs, and been granted 9 patents by the US Patent Office, many of which are also international patents. In addition to his duties at Vail Systems, he is a Research Associate Professor of Computer Science at Illinos Tech. He holds a Ph.D., Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Computer Science from Bradley University.

Research Interests
Machine Learning
Natural Language Processing
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Jordan Hosier

Principal Data Scientist Manager

Jordan’s work leverages her background in Computational Psycholinguistics (MA, Northwestern University) to conduct research and develop models that enable Vail technology to better process and produce human language. She possesses a strong understanding of machine learning and artificial intelligence, especially as it is informed by linguistic analysis.

Research Interests
Natural Language Processing
Generative AI
Speech Processing
Computational Psycholinguistics
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Rick Pettit

Director, Machine Learning Ops

Rick has been with Vail Systems for over 20 years and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from University of Illinois, Chicago.

Research Interests
Machine Learning Operations
Conatiner-based Virtualization
Text-to-speech
Machine Learning
Speech Recognition
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Dan Pluth

Principal Data Scientist

Dan's interests largely lie in spoken language understanding and have included work on speaker recognition, spoof detection and speech generation. He holds a PhD in Physics from Iowa State University, bringing a unique perspective and analytical toolkit to problem solving.

Research Interests
SPoken Language Understanding
Natural Language Processing
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Steven Taylor

Business Intelligence Analyst I

Steven has a keen interest in engineering and robotics and holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Research Interests
Text-to-speech
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Yu Zhou

Distinguished Data Scientist

Yu joined Vail Systems in 2019 with a diverse research background. He holds a PhD in Physics from Virginia Tech.

Research Interests
Text-to-speech

Join the fun

(no, seriously, we have a blast)

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