Mary Sandra “Sandee” Carberry, professor emeritus of computer and information science at the University of Delaware, passed away on June 26, 2025. She was 80 years old.
Originally from Belleville, Illinois, Dr. Carberry earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas; and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Delaware, where she remained for the entirety of her academic career.
In 1970, Dr. Carberry joined Delaware’s then-department of statistic and computer sciences as an instructor. She was named an assistant professor in 1985 and an associate professor in 1990 with a joint appointment in the department of linguistics. During the 1993-1994 academic year, she was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1999, Dr. Carberry earned the title of full professor and was appointed chair of her department, a position she held until 2004. She retired from the university in 2016, but continued to teach as an adjunct professor until 2024.
Dr. Carberry’s research interests included graph retrieval, natural language understanding, response generation, user modeling, dialogue systems, summarization, digital libraries, intelligent interfaces, and plan recognition. Throughout her career, she secured several National Science Foundation grants and held various leadership roles with academic journals, national conferences, and professional committees. Dr. Carberry was the author of three books, as well as numerous papers and book chapters.