Frank Lee, PhD

Professor of Digital Media; Director, Entrepreneurial Game Studio

Lee is the co-founder of Drexel’s Game Design Program and founding director of the Drexel Entrepreneurial Game Studio. He and his students push the limits of creativity in gaming by developing web and mobile games that break down the traditional concepts of video game play. He has helped to elevate Drexel’s Game Design Program to one of the highest regarded programs of its kind in the country.

As part of Philly Tech Week 2013, Lee turned Brandywine Real Estate’s 29-story Cira Centre office building in Philadelphia into a giant game of arcade-style Pong. The hack was recognized as a Guinness World Record in the fall of 2013. Lee has commented on the giant game and the video game industry in stories that ran in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, ArsTechnica, Polygon and several other outlets. 

Related from the News Blog

In The News

10 Weirdest Facts About Tetris
A 2014 event featuring a giant game of Tetris played using the facade lights of the 29-story Cira Centre office building, created by Frank Lee, PhD, a professor in Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and founding director of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio in the ExCITe Center, was featured in an April 10 Screen Rant post highlighting interesting facts about the game.
Gaming and Esports Flourish in the University Sandbox of Creativity
Frank Lee, PhD, a professor in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and director of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio, was quoted in a June 27 Forbes article about colleges and universities across the country developing esport teams and programs to develop the next generation, who will build and grow the gaming and esports industry.
Inside Drexel's Entrepreneurial Game Studio
Drexel's Entrepreneurial Game Studio in the ExCITe Center was featured on the Feb. 20 episode of NBC Sports Philadelphia's "FTW Philly." Frank Lee, PhD, a professor in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and director of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio, was interviewed along with Chris McCole, a research programer at EGS, and alumnus Thomas Sharpe.
Theatre Exile’s Timely Play About Isolation and Gaming Culture Kicks off Its First Virtual Season
Frank Lee, PhD, a professor in Westphal College and director of the Entrepreneurial Game Studio in the ExCITe Center, was quoted in a Dec. 3 Technically Philly story about a new play, on which Lee consulted, about an aspiring game developer navigating the independent game industry.

Related Articles

Entrepreneurial Game Studio's App Takes Stanzas to the Streets
A new app from Drexel University’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio and Cleaver Magazine is using augmented reality to spruce up Philadelphia with beautiful writing. Called Story Seek, the application takes users on a virtual tour of the city to places that have inspired or elicit feelings captured through poems and stories, shared in an augmented reality experience throughout the journey.
Civil Dialog mockup Drexel Professor Wants to Help Us All Have a Big Talk

There’s a lot to talk about right now and social distancing hasn’t made it easy to get it all out. Drexel University Professor Frank Lee, PhD, who is known for visually appealing and nostalgic architectural art installations, is hoping to provide a forum for conversation with some assistance from a seven-story building in Philadelphia.

SIM-PHL game screen Entrepreneurial Game Studio to Launch SIM-PHL, an Urban Planning Simulator Game Powered by Philadelphia’s Open Data
In hopes of helping more people understand the political, economic and sociological forces that shape urban communities, game designers from Drexel University are turning Philadelphia’s open data into a SimCity-style urban planning game. With support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Open Data initiative, Drexel’s game, called Simulated Interactive Management of the City of Philadelphia (SIM-PHL), will be set in the city’s Mantua neighborhood, an area that is part of a national initiative to support and restore marginalized communities.
Cira tetris Video Games Created by Middle School Students to Be Played on LED Array of Cira Centre Skyscraper to Open New Park, Drexel Square
The creativity of local students will be on full display this summer as the 29-story LED array of Brandywine Realty Trust’s Cira Centre office building is once again converted into the world’s largest video game display. Students and teachers from K-12 schools across the Greater Philadelphia region have been working with experts in Drexel University’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio to design and code new games for the building — those games will debut on the evening of June 10 as part of a celebration for the opening of the city’s newest green space, Drexel Square. The opening of Drexel Square park marks the first completed project of the Schuylkill Yards development, a 14-acre master-planned neighborhood in University City being developed by Brandywine Realty Trust on land owned by and in coordination with Drexel.