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Art Graesser receives lifetime research award This is an honor that might even leave Marco at a loss for words. Dr. Art Graesser, founding co-director of the University of Memphis’ Institute for Intelligent Systems and one of the creators of the AutoTutor intelligent tutoring program, received the first Presidential Award for Lifetime Achievement in Research from the U of M. “This new award is the University’s highest level of research recognition given to its faculty,” said U of M President Shirley Raines. “Dr. Graesser is most deserving.” Graesser and his collaborators in the ISS have become world renowned for their work in artificial intelligence tutoring systems, particularly with AutoTutor and its subsequent editions. AutoTutor is a computer-based tutoring program that has been shown to improve learning by one letter grade. An animated agent (talking head) on the computer screen holds a conversation with the learner, prompting him or her much like what a human teacher would do. One of the first prototypes of the talking head was dubbed “Marco.” Graesser has worked on projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Naval Research, the Institute of Education Sciences and other national funders totaling more than $30 million. “Art has been the driving force for the development of big science here,” said Vice Provost of Research Andy Meyers. “In his 27 years with us, he and his longtime colleague Stan Franklin and their team at the Institute for Intelligent Systems have pulled us into the modern world of interdisciplinary science. This is a model that we are now replicating across the campus.” W W W. M E M P H I S . E D U
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Beginning Spring 2013 Issue
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