Wide-awake and raring-to-go Vol fans can learn all about sleep from psychology professor Ralph Lydic during the final Pregame Showcase of the season on Saturday, November 14.
Lydic will present “The Brain Basis of Sleep Health” at 2:00 p.m., prior to the Vols’ game against Vanderbilt. The talk will be held in the auditorium of UT’s McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Now in its twenty-sixth year, the Pregame Showcase gives fans an opportunity to hear from some of UT’s exceptional faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences prior to each gridiron matchup. It is sponsored by the college with support from UT Athletics, the McClung Museum, UT Office of Alumni Affairs, and WUOT 91.9 FM.
Free and open to the public, each showcase features a thirty-minute presentation followed by a fifteen-minute question-and-answer session. A brief reception will follow each program. Door prizes will be awarded.
Lydic’s topic should have wide appeal: About one-third of all Americans suffer from sleep deprivation.
He will address concerns associated with sleep and sleeping disorders and explain why the scientific understanding of sleep had not been explored until about sixty years ago. He also will talk about sleep health and risks associated with sleep deprivation.
In addition to being a professor of psychology, Lydic is the Robert H. Cole Endowed Professor of Neuroscience at UT. He is the co-director of anesthesiology research at UT Medical Center and holds a joint appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Lydic is a recipient of the Excellence in Research award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists and chairs the External Advisory Council for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. His commitment to education extends to his role in co-producing the first massively open online course (MOOC) on the topic of sleep via the University of Michigan and the Coursera platform, which had an enrollment of 3,000 students worldwide.
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)
Jeremy Hughes (865-974-0963, jhughe19@utk.edu)