The Games Institute (GI) in collaboration with Engineering Outreach recently hosted a collaborative event that turned the GI into a vibrant workshop for young virtual reality (VR) enthusiasts.
On July 2nd, the Games Institute (GI) welcomed its latest postdoctoral fellow Dr. Geneva Smith. Dr. Smith, who is also an instructor of Game Design in Communication Arts and will be co-supervised by Drs. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) and Mark Hancock (Management Science and Engineering).
On June 17, the GI welcomed communication experts, researchers, and students from KidsAbility to showcase the various research conducted by GI members. Along with Brendan Wylie-Toal, the Director of Research & Innovation at KidsAbility, the group also toured the GI facility to learn more about how GI administration supports membership, research, and connecting academic work with industry, demonstrating previous knowledge mobilization projects. We hope they enjoyed their time here!
Following the success of last year’s visit, GI welcomed another cohort of visitors from Mexico eager to explore the world of games and interactive technology. These students are from the RoboSEIP program managed by Renison University. During the visit, students attended presentations and interactive sessions and participated in research.
Dr. Lai-Tze Fan announced her new U&AI Lab funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation! The purpose of Dr. Fan’s work and the creation of the lab will be to examine the systemic oppression integrated into modern AI technology. The U&AI Lab will focus on three case studies in AI using frameworks from social sciences and humanities with STEM research in FATE (fairness, accountability, transparency, ethics): (1) generative textual and language-based AI, (2) facial recognition technologies, and (3) AI hardware and the environment. Dr. Fan also hopes to write a novel that can help others disrupt inequitable AI at critical stages of development and prevent unfair and unethical impacts to end users.
The GI congratulates Dr. Fan on her new project and looks forward to future updates!
GI members presented their research at the Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA) 2024 annual conference.
Congratulations to GI faculty members who successfully secured over $4 million in government grants for various interdisciplinary research projects.
The Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric 2024 conference (or RhetCanada for short) was held at McGill University from June 8 to June 14. Four GI members attended to present their ongoing research projects and studies.
The Games Institute Podcast has been featured on the HigherEdPods platform, a directory for university associated podcast series from institutions like Harvard, Stanford, Zurich, MIT, and many, many more.
GI members Drs. John E. Muñoz and Shi Cao partnered with the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA) to speak on the intersection of technology and human physiology at the Vital Pulse seminar taking place on June 27th, 2024. The topic “Advancing Pilot Training with Physiological Monitoring and Adaptive Simulation” aims to highlight the future of aviation, aircraft, and spacecraft training of Canadian pilots.