Roger Schank, Ph.D., started his career as an artificial intelligence researcher trying to make computers smarter. He was very successful at that — he’s one of the top researchers in the world. When his own children started going to school, he realized what a mess the schools were and switched his focus to using machines to help people get smarter. That is, he broadened the idea of AI by starting the more comprehensive field of the Learning Sciences, which deals with both humans and computers. He’s been doing this ever since. His goal is to become the federal secretary of education in order to dismantle the department.

Professor Schank is the Chairman and CEO of Socratic Arts, a company that delivers Story-Centered Curricula to businesses and schools. He is also the Executive Director and founder of Engines for Education. While he tries to work with schools, he also sees them as a problem.

Previously, Dr. Schank was the Chief Education Officer of Carnegie Mellon's West Coast campus, where he introduced the idea of master's degrees that use a Story-Centered Curriculum in lieu of the traditional course-centered approach. He was the founder of the Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University where he was John Evans Professor of Computer Science, Education, and Psychology, (now Professor Emeritus).

Prior to coming to Northwestern University, Dr. Schank was Professor of Computer Science and Psychology at Yale University and Director of the Yale Artificial Intelligence Project. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Paris VII, Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Computer Science at at Stanford University, and research fellow at the Institute for Semantics and Cognition in Switzerland.

Dr. Schank is a fellow of the AAAI, the founder of the Cognitive Science Society, and co-founder of the Journal of Cognitive Science. He holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Texas. One of the world's leading Artificial Intelligence researchers, Dr. Schank is the author of more than 125 articles and publications. He has written more than 30 books.