History

H-STAR was created in 2005-06 by faculty from two interdisciplinary university centers: CSLI (Center for the Study of Language and Information) and SCIL (Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning), with the intention of continuing and building on the long tradition of innovative research for which both centers are known, but with the much broader scope required to tackle the major people-technology problems of today.

 

CSLI (Center for the Study of Language and Information)

CSLI (Center for the Study of Language and Information) was founded in 1983, with initial funding from the System Development Foundation (a nonprofit spinoff from the RAND Corporation) to investigate fundamental issues of language from the different perspectives of linguistics, mathematical logic, philosophy, and computation. After merging with SCIL to create H-STAR, CSLI was re-established as a separate laboratory in fall 2008.

 

SCIL (Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning)

SCIL (Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning) was founded in late 2001 with a focus on research directed to inventing the future of learning and establishing a center of excellence to conduct scholarly research for advancing the sciences, technologies, and practices of learning to support K-12 and college level learning and teaching. It was launched in part with a Hewlett Foundation Institutional Development Grant, Presidential Funds, and a number of National Science Foundation grants. SCIL ceased to operate as a separate institute in 2011. Projects that would formerly have been conducted within SCIL are now carried out in the H-STAR Institute.