AI, Teaching, and Assessment
How should universities teach, assess, and mentor in an age of capable AI? I study faculty attitudes, adoption patterns, and practical ways to integrate AI without weakening student learning.
About
Research, teaching, and institutional AI work
I started at UNC Wilmington as an undergraduate, double-majoring in Psychology and Philosophy & Religion. That pairing of mechanism and meaning has shaped my work in neuroscience, teaching, and artificial intelligence.
I earned my Ph.D. in Psychology, with a behavioral neuroscience concentration, at the University of Colorado Boulder, training with Steven Maier and Jerry Rudy. I returned to UNCW as a faculty member in 1990.
My earlier research examined neuroplasticity, hippocampal neurogenesis, memory, cardiac surgery and cognition, neurofeedback, addiction recovery, and concussion assessment technology. My current work focuses on AI in higher education and the cognitive science of artificial systems.
After seven years chairing the Department of Psychology, I returned to faculty work with new questions about cognition, learning, and human-AI collaboration.
Career Timeline
Selected milestones
- 1983B.A., Psychology and Philosophy & Religion, UNC Wilmington
- 1990Ph.D., Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder; joined the UNCW faculty
- 2003-08NIMH R01: Functional Aspects of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis
- 2015UNCW Distinguished Teaching Professorship and Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award
- 2015-2022Chair, Department of Psychology, UNCW
- NowAI Strategic Lead at UNCW; Director, Generative AI Agent Builders' Studio
Research
Current focus
My current work is organized around two questions: how AI is changing higher education, and what cognitive psychology can reveal about artificial systems.
Machine Cognition
I apply the tools of cognitive psychology to AI systems: how they learn, remember, generalize, and fail, and where artificial systems diverge from human cognition.
Selected earlier work
Neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, and memory
NIMH R01-funded work on how new neurons added to the adult hippocampus contribute to learning, memory, and recovery after brain injury, combining electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, and behavioral analysis.
Keith, Priester, Ferguson & Salling (2008). Behavioural Brain Research, 188, 391-397. Keith & Rudy (1990). Psychobiology, 18, 251-257.Heart surgery, the brain, and clinical trials
NHLBI-funded studies examined cognitive outcomes related to cardiopulmonary bypass surgery and helped clarify risks in serial neuropsychological assessment.
Keith, Puente, Malcolmson, Tartt, Coleman & Marks (2002). Neuropsychology, 16, 411-421. Keith, Cohen & Lecci (2007). The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 83, 370-373.Neurofeedback for attention, ADHD, and pain
Randomized, sham-controlled trials of automated EEG biofeedback in adults with ADHD, residents of a substance-use treatment facility, and veterans with TBI and PTSD using mobile neurofeedback for pain management.
Keith, Rapgay, Theodore, Schwartz & Ross (2015). Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29, 17-25. Elbogen et al., incl. Keith (2021). Pain Medicine, 22, 329-337.Concussion assessment and machine learning
Validation work on accelerometer-based gait assessment and screening batteries for concussion in children, adolescents, and adults, including machine-learning models for neuropsychological research.
Keith, Williams, Taravath & Lecci (2019). A Clinician's Guide to Machine Learning in Neuropsychological Research and Practice. Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology, 5, 177-187. Lecci et al., incl. Keith (2023). Journal of Concussion.Minds, measurement, and meaning
Work on mindfulness and attention, psychometric instruments for interpersonal emotion, and contemplative practice and human enhancement.
Rapgay, Conchar & Keith (2025). Development and Validation of the Interpersonal Hate Questionnaire. Lifecycle Journal, 1. Keith, Blackwood, Mathew & Lecci (2017). Mindfulness, 93, 765-774. Keith (2018). Buddhist Biohackers: The New Enlightenment. In Posthumanism: The Future of Homo Sapiens. Macmillan.Grant Support
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A Placebo-Control Evaluation of Neurofeedback Efficacy in Adults with ADHD
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The Seahawk Brainwave and Attention Training Clinic
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A New Approach at Identifying Patterns of Cognitive Decline in Patients with Dementia of the Alzheimer’s Type
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Proposal to obtain laser scanning confocal microscope
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Functional Aspects of Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis
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Stimulating Plastic Processes to Facilitate Functional Restitution after Cortical Stroke
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Drugs of Abuse and Complex Behavior
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CPB Effects on Neuropsychological Performance
Teaching
Courses and public talks
My teaching emphasizes critical thinking, research methods, cognitive neuroscience, and the practical use of AI as a learning partner.
Graduate Courses
View past graduate courses
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
- Memory
- Professional Development
Undergraduate Courses
View current undergraduate courses
- Experimental Psychology
- Buddhism and Modern Psychology
View past undergraduate courses
- Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
- Motivation and Emotion
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
- Psychology of Religion
- The Self-Regulating Brain
- Electroencephalography
- History and Systems of Psychology
- Introductory Psychology
Public Lectures
Frequent talks for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, UNCW's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cucalorus Connect, and area Rotary and Kiwanis clubs on brain health, Buddhism and modern psychology, and AI.
AI Projects
Customized Generative AI Tools
Custom GPTs built for students, colleagues, and curious learners. These tools support research methods, statistics, lab simulation, contemplative practice, and communication.
ExperiMentor
A mentor for experimental design, including hypotheses, variables, controls, and the logic of a well-built study.
Jamovi Stats Coach
A coach for running and interpreting analyses in jamovi, from t-tests to regression.
LabSim GPT
Simulated lab experiences for practicing the research process when students cannot be at the bench.
Mindful Mentor
A companion to Buddhism and Modern Psychology that helps students deepen their understanding of course topics in Buddhist psychology, contemplative practice, and cognitive science.
SuperCommunicators
Practice listening, asking better questions, and matching the conversation you are actually in.
Human Wisdom for the Age of AI
A companion GPT for Elon University's publication Human Wisdom for the Age of AI, built with Elon's permission.
Agent Smith
An AI Builder Coach that helps students, faculty, staff, and administrators design, choose, and build effective custom AI assistants across platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot, with an emphasis on practical use, governance, and iterative improvement.
Current Event Conversations
Helps people explore questions, ideas, and current events by providing information, context, and thoughtful inquiry that deepens understanding rather than simply delivering conclusions.
GAABS
Generative AI Agent Builders Studio
GAABS, the Generative AI Agent Builders Studio, is the applied tool-building arm of UNCW's AI Hub. GAABS helps faculty, staff, and students turn responsible AI ideas into practical tools, workflows, agents, and learning resources that support teaching, research, operations, and student success.
UNCW builders and collaborators
GAABS is for members of the UNCW community who want to build, test, document, or share useful AI projects within appropriate policy, privacy, and data-use boundaries.
Share a use case or project idea
To participate, share a use case, submit a project idea, join a buildathon, or ask about collaboration by emailing gaabs@uncw.edu.
Personal
Beyond campus
A short personal note for visitors who want a fuller picture beyond teaching and research.
Endurance Athlete
On September 9, 1979, ninety-four racers waded into Banks Channel at Wrightsville Beach for one of North America's first triathlons. I was one of them. That same year I ran my first marathon, qualified for Boston as a teenager, and ran the Boston Marathon the following spring.
The 1979 race and nine of its original competitors are the subject of the 2024 documentary On Their First Tri.
Watch the documentary | View on IMDb
The Noseeums
I am a member of The Noseeums, a Wilmington band playing y'allternative music around town a few times a month.
Gabriel Keith
My son, Gabriel Keith, studies how AI agents learn to communicate and cooperate through reinforcement learning. He is also developing efficient approaches for training LLMs on consumer hardware.