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--></style></head><body lang=en-CN link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Dear ADAPTers,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Next week marks the start of a new semester. For most of us, 2022 has been an extremely difficult year. Thanks to the outbreak of Omicron, the zero-covid policy and a series of lockdowns, our teaching and research activities have been severely disrupted, and communication and collaboration have almost come to a standstill. Many of us have not even met each other in person since March! For some, putting meals on the table was a real problem during those most brutal months. Despite all these difficulties, ADAPTers still get together virtually (see the historical group pic taken on June 1, 2022 below), learn, improve ourselves and try to forge ahead with research. We managed to submit 3 full papers to ARR June, 4 papers to EMNLP’22 and then again 5 papers to AAAI’23. We also managed to submit a proposal to the NSFC, which is about dialogue system evaluation. Not all these attempts will be successful, but I believe with our believe and perseverance, eventually all the efforts will be paid off.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Starting next week, our regular face2face activities will resume, barring all unpredictable events! So once again, we will get together at 4 PM every Wednesday in Room 414. A tentative group seminar schedule has been compiled and included below. If you are not included in this schedule and would like to give a talk also, please contact Shanshan for more information. As for our one-on-one meetings, please contact me privately for any change that you want to make to accommodate for your classes. Sometime this month, let’s have a lunch or dinner together to get to know the new ADAPTers better.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Once again, a warm welcome to all of you, especially our new members, and happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all of you, including all the alumni!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Kenny<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><img width=1440 height=900 style='width:15.0in;height:9.375in' id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image001.png@01D8C2D8.D1913AB0"></span><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><img width=902 height=406 style='width:9.3958in;height:4.2291in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.png@01D8C2D8.D1913AB0"></span><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>