Stan Franklin

Timeline

1. 1959–1963

   Mathematics at Memphis and UCLA

   He earns an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Memphis State University in 1959 and a doctorate in mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1963, specializing in topology. His thesis is titled Concerning continuous relations, and as a mathematician he introduces the concept of sequential spaces.

2. 1963–1972

   Faculty at Carnegie Mellon and Kanpur

   After his 1963 doctorate, he holds an NSF postdoctoral post at the University of Washington and faculty positions at the University of Florida, Carnegie Mellon University and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His travels also take him to Tulane University, the Technion in Haifa and a mathematics center in Amsterdam.

3. 1972–1984

   Mathematics chair at Memphis State

   He returns to Memphis State University in 1972 and chairs the Department of Mathematical Sciences until 1984. In 1982, he chairs the Department of Computer Science when it splits off, and its program becomes one of the first in the world to offer a computer literacy curriculum.

4. 1987

   Founding the Institute for Intelligent Systems

   Turning from topology to intelligent systems, he co-founds and co-directs the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis in 1987. His fellow founders are Art Graesser of psychology and Terry Horgan of philosophy.

5. 1995–1996

   Artificial Minds and an agent taxonomy

   MIT Press publishes his book Artificial Minds in 1995; it surveys philosophies of mind and signs of mind in the animal kingdom. In 1996, he and Art Graesser publish the paper "Is it an agent or just a program? A taxonomy for autonomous agents".

6. 1997

   The Sparks Eminent Faculty Award

   The University of Memphis gives him the Willard R. Sparks Eminent Faculty Award in 1997, the highest distinction it gives a faculty member.

7. 2003–2016

   The IDA and LIDA agents

   He develops IDA, an Intelligent Distribution Agent for the US Navy that automates the work of detailers by talking with sailors in natural language and negotiating, and writes "IDA: A Conscious Artifact?" in 2003. IDA grows out of Conscious Mattie, a seminar-announcement agent built on Bernard Baars's global workspace theory, and Navy agencies support the project with some $1,500,000. LIDA, its learning successor, implements the same theory; he and Baars present it in the 2009 paper "Consciousness is computational", and he coauthors "A LIDA cognitive model tutorial" in 2016.

8. 2013–2023

   Emeritus research until 2023

   He retires in December 2013, at 81, after more than forty years of service to the university, and continues his research as a professor emeritus. Over his career he guides twenty-five doctoral students to completion, and he dies in January 2023 at 91.