UW Bothell is taking computer games out of the realm of entertainment and into the arena of helping mankind. Its new Center for Serious Play brings together the region’s finest gaming engineers and firms to work with students and faculty to create an interactive lab to perform research, test-drive new products and translate gaming into educational tools for businesses and classrooms.

The center is also hosting camps for 6th- to 11th-grade girls to encourage their participation in science and technology, provides training to middle- and high-school teachers to bridge the gap between math, science and digital media and has entered into a partnership with University College of Dublin’s SMARTlab Digital Media Institute, which offers a world-renowned doctoral program. Beginning this year, SMARTlab students will have the opportunity to study at the Bothell campus.

UW Bothell is really serious about interactive media. It has proposed to offer a new bachelor’s degree program in Interactive Media beginning in winter 2012, as well as a Game Development Certificate program this coming fall.
—Jon Marmor