Big data has burst into public awareness over the past few years as people have become more and more aware of the massive amount of data being produced by social and scientific activities, and its potential utilization for good or harm. This special issue on "Big Data: Theoretical Aspects", published in Proceedings of the IEEE Jan. 2016, highlights a number of algorithmic approaches that are fundamental to data analysis, both in formulating and solving problems.

Researchers at MIT, New York University, and the University of Toronto have developed a computer system whose ability to produce a variation of a character in an unfamiliar writing system, on the first try, is indistinguishable from that of humans.

In November 2015, IEEE Potentials published a theme issue focusing on the intersection of engineering and science with the arts. This engineering and art theme issue presents articles that dissect and present, in simple terms, the many interesting outcomes possible when we begin to wear the hats of both an engineer or scientist and an artist.

Welcome to the Winter 2015 edition of the IEEE Speech and Language Processing Technical Committee's Newsletter! This issue of the newsletter includes 5 articles and announcements from 23 contributors, including SLTC own staff reporters and editors. Thank you all for your contributions!

Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a wearable device prototype that can translate American Sign Language into English in real-time. This technology provides a solution to communication problems between deaf and hearing people.

The Industry Signal Processing Standing Committee (IDSP-SC) promotes emerging signal processing applications in industry and encourages stronger interaction between academic and industry signal processing researchers by organizing industry focused sessions at signal processing society conferences.

Depression and anxiety are common mental disorders. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 14% of the world population suffers from at least one severe mood disorder during the course of their life. Researches from the University of Barcelona investigate the interaction with affective and physiologically aware virtual human characters for mood and physiological modulation.