Seth Cooper, associate professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, will discuss scientific breakthroughs from gamification, crowdsourcing and citizen science at 7 p.m. Monday in Lakeside Meeting Rooms
Are video games the key to solving humanity’s greatest scientific challenges?
Crowdsourcing, citizen science and gamification offer promising approaches to complex problems and have already yielded results in medical research and treatment.
Seth Cooper, associate professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, will explore those breakthroughs and the potential for more when he presents “Citizen Science Games: Creating and Improving Video Games that Help Solve Real-world Problems” on Monday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. in Lakeside Meeting Rooms.
Cooper’s appearance is part of the 2023-24 Voices of Discovery Speaker Series, which is sponsored by Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences. The event is free and open to the public.
Cooper studies gamification, crowdsourcing games and citizen science, and how turning serious questions into competitive and collaborative games can lead to solutions beyond the power of a single brain or computer algorithm alone. The citizen science approach also demystifies the scientific process and generates interest and excitement in learning.
Cooper was awarded a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington, where he was creative director for the Center for Game Science and co-creator of the scientific discovery game “Foldit.” That game invites players around the world into an online, 3D puzzle game to fold the best proteins and better predict their structure. High scoring and promising solutions are submitted to scientists for study. In 2011, several hundred thousand “Foldit” players discovered the correct structure of a monkey protease involved in determining simian AIDS and were credited in part for a biological breakthrough.
Voices of Discovery brings preeminent scientists and mathematicians to campus to share their experiences and perspectives with Elon students and the community. Upcoming speakers include the University of Minnesota’s Daniel Griffin, who will deliver “Tree Rings and the Promise of Environmental Change,” on March 12, and the University of Florida’s Scott Arthur Banks,” who will speak about biomedically engineering treatments, on April 18.
In September, Dr. Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco, spoke about metabolic syndrome and the importance of nutrition.