Designing video games pays real-world dividends
Caleb Ralph served as a guest lecturer Friday for the 2009 Game Development Summer Camp, sponsored by the Batten College. He is particularly proficient in a type of program that the students needed to learn. Caleb is 10 years old. In his case, it might not be too early to start thinking about a career.
Economic development officials say the modeling and simulation industry in Hampton Roads has promising potential, but it faces a shortage of labor. Getting teens interested in designing video games might boost interest in what insiders call STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
That's according to camp instructor Yuzhong Shen, an ODU assistant professor who wouldn't mind seeing more students flock to his Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
"Kids are very interested in playing games, and about two-thirds of American families play games," he said. "Games are a lot of mathematics and a lot of science and a lot of physics."