Art C. Graesser, professor of psychology and co-director of the Institute of Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis, will present a Meadows Distinguished Lecture from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on February 23 in the Dean's Conference Room (SZB 238), with a reception to follow. The presentation, "Conversational Agents That Track and Help Student Learning," will include a discussion of the AutoTutor learning environment as well as the new Operation ARIES! scientific reasoning game. To RSVP, please send an e-mail with "Graesser" in the subject line to rsvp@meadowscenter.org.

Graesser's research interests include questioning, text comprehension, reading, artificial intelligence, and learning technologies, and he has helped design, develop, and test software integrating learning, language, and psychology for tutoring and other instructional applications. He is a recipient of the American Psychological Association's 2011 Distinguished Contributions of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training Award, and this month the University of Memphis will present him with the its highest research recognition: the first Presidential Award for Lifetime Achievement in Research. Graesser is also a senior research fellow at Oxford University.