Drexel Faculty, Students Among 2014 Philly Geek Awards Nominees

Several Drexel faculty members and students are among the nominees at the 2014 Philadelphia Geek Awards.

The annual Philadelphia Geek Awards have once again recognized the work of Drexel University’s faculty and students as some of the best examples of the city’s vibrant geek community over the past year.

Among the award nominees are Genevieve Dion, an associate professor in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, and Ted Daeschler, PhD, an associate professor in the College of Arts & Sciences and paleontologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, are both nominees for “Scientist of the Year;” Greg Lobanov, an undergraduate in Westphal College whose “Coin Crypt” is up for “Game of the Year;” and a Rube Goldberg device created by undergraduate students in the College of Engineering to kick off the Philadelphia Science Festival, has been nominated for “Story of the Year.”

Dion, who is the director of the Shima Seiki Haute Technology Lab in the ExCITe Center, presented her smart textile and digital knitting work at TEDxPhilly and was named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” this year.

Daeschler’s paper on an ancient species of fish called Tiktaalik roseae shed light on an important evolutionary link between fish and land-dwelling tetrapods, which helped to further explain the development of hind limbs.

Lobanov, whose game “Perfection” won a Philly Geek Award for “Indie Game of the Year” in 2013, could be on the podium again for his “Coin Crypt” game. The latest offering by Lobanov’s Dumb and Fat Games, is a procedural adventure game that brings players into a world where coins are both currency and weapons.

Drexel’s Rube Goldberg device opened the 2014 Philadelphia Science Festival in appropriately elaborate, over-engineered style. A class of freshmen engineering students spent their spring term designing and assembling the contraption with the help of PSF sponsor organizations. The device had more than 300 energy transfers that ultimately completed the task of raising a Science Festival banner.

The Philadelphia Geek Awards, which will be held at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on Aug. 16, are in their fourth year of honoring and celebrating Philadelphia’s bustling geek culture. Candidates for the awards are nominated by the public and winners are selected by the Geek Awards Committee.

Presenters at this year’s ceremony include Joel Hodgson (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Beth Beverly (AMC’s Immortalized), celebrated comic book illustrator J.G. Jones (Wanted, Y: The Last Man, Before Watchmen), award-winning author E.C. Myers (Fair Coin), and more.

For a full list of nominees and to purchase tickets to the Philadelphia Geek Awards, visit www.phillygeekawards.com.