Elise H. Turner (1959-2008)
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Elise (Hill) Turner,
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science and
co-Director of the Maine Software Agents and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (MaineSAIL).
Elise passed away Thursday, August 14, 2008, in Bangor, Maine, after a 7-year battle with biliary tract cancer (cholangiocarcinoma). Elise's friends will remember her beautiful singing voice, her intelligence, her humor, her love of the theater, and her kindness and love for her friends and family.
Elise was born May 3, 1959, in Portsmouth, Virginia, the daughter of George C. and Anita C. Hill. Elise graduated from I.C. Norcomb High School in Portsmouth, Virginia, and she received her B.A. in computer science from Barnard College of Columbia University. She received her masters in computer science from Columbia. She received her Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech in 1989.
Elise enjoyed an accomplished career as a computer scientist. After an initial appointment as an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire, she began her appointment in the Computer Science Department at the University of Maine, a school and department she loved, in 1995. She became Chair of the Department in 2004.
Elise's research was in artificial intelligence. Her research interests included natural language processing, discourse processing, multiagent systems, communication in multiagent systems, constraint satisfaction, planning in real-world systems, the interaction between planning and communication, cognitive science, and computer science education. Her close collaborator on much of her research was her husband and fellow professor, Roy Turner. She was a member of the ACM and IEEE computer science professional societies and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
Elise was an active member of All Souls Congregational Church in Bangor, where she was a member of the choir and taught Sunday school. She was a past member of Athena Consort and the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Hancock County.
In addition to her parents she is survived by her husband, Roy Turner; their daughter, Kathrina; and her sister, Anita Robinson, her brother-in-law Jodie Robinson, and their son, Jodie, of Opelika, Alabama.
Those wishing to remember Elise may make donations in her name to the All Souls Congregational Church memorial fund (10 Broadway, Bangor, ME 04401), All Saints Catholic School (P.O. Box 1749, Bangor, ME 04402), or Barnard College (NY), Elise's alma mater (The Barnard Fund, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027).
She will be greatly missed.
