October 22, 2014

On Friday, October 24 the newly formed Westphal Digital Media Department will hold a full-day symposium with important researchers in gaming, visual effects and more, in the URBN Annex Screening Room (3401 Filbert Street). Leading game studies researcher James Paul Gee will launch the symposium at 10:00am, with a talk entitled Games, Minds, and Schools: Is it too Late? Gee, the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University will share his pivotal work on games for learning and examine educational challenges and opportunities derived from our new understanding of digital media culture.

At 11:00am, Georg Glaeser will share practical findings of recent work on the mathematical structure of nature in the talk Nature and Numbers. Glaeser is Professor of Mathematics and Geometry at the Vienna University of Applied Arts. In the 1980s he pioneered the use of 3D graphics on early home computer systems such as the Commodore C64.

Associate Professor of Digital Media and Director of the Drexel Entrepreneurial Game Studio, Dr. Frank Lee will speak at 1:00pm about recent projects of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio and explain how Drexel students can get involved in the studio’s activities. Dr. Lee is internationally known for creating the world’s largest architectural videogame displays.

Visual effects artist Timothy Bowman’s feature film credits include work on GRAVITY, THE HUNGER GAMES, THE GREAT GATSBY and THE WOLVERINE. At 2:00pm he will offer a close-up view of the visual effects industry, and will share behind the scenes shot breakdowns from his work in addition to discussing how to navigate today's VFX career landscape.

All Symposium sessions are free and open to the public. Lunch will be served in the URBN Annex at noon. For more information, please contact Daphney Wright at dbw37@drexel.edu.