On Oct. 30, Hsiao-Wuen Hon, an internationally recognized expert in speech technology, was announced as the new managing director of Microsoft Research Asia, Microsoft’s fundamental research arm in the Asia Pacific region. In his new role, Hon—who had been serving as the lab’s deputy managing director under Harry Shum, recently promoted to corporate vice president—will direct the next phase of growth and innovation for the lab, based in Beijing.
Shum, named chief scientist of Search & Ads at Microsoft in March and promoted to corporate vice president in May, expressed supreme confidence in Hon’s ability to lead the Beijing lab, which has contributed more than 200 technologies to Microsoft products, to continued success.
“I am very pleased to have Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon step up to lead Microsoft Research Asia, the world’s hottest computer lab,” Shum said. “Dr. Hon and his new leadership team possess profound experience and knowledge in fundamental research and technology transfer. I am confident that they will lead the lab to greater heights.”
Hon, who has extensive experience in both fundamental research and product development, joined Microsoft Research Asia in 2004 after serving as the architect for Microsoft’s Natural Interactive Services Division andstarting his Microsoft career at Microsoft Research Redmond. During his tenure at the Beijing lab, he has overseen research efforts in Web search, speech and language processing, systems and networking, and Internet media, as well as managing the Search Technology Center, a research-and-development partnership with Live Search.
Married and a father of daughters aged 14 and 10, Hon, 44, recently found time to discuss his background and his plans for the future.
Source: http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?0rc=n&id=1840
