Goals of the GSAS Program

To achieve the objective of providing graduates with an education that prepares them for industry and academic leadership, the following set of goals for students and for the B.S. program were developed.

Student Outcome Goals

Students should graduate prepared to:

• Be able to work effectively in goal-oriented game development teams and have well-developed leadership and management skills.
• Have a strong sense of “procedural literacy” (how to construct, analyze, and manage processes).
• Be fluent in at least one programming or scripting language used in the production of interactive games or interfaces, and expert in at least one game development platform.
• Produce written, oral, and visual expressions that achieve clear communication of their ideas.
• Understand basic psychological theories of human perception, learning, social interaction, and play.
• Have a basic foundation in mathematics and the physical, biological, and social sciences, including an understanding of the scientific methods of inquiry.
• Develop a solid portfolio illustrating their abilities and work experience. This may include examples of industry experience, research, writing samples, and creative works.

Program Goals

Our goals for the program are to:

• Attract a sufficient number of highly motivated, academically gifted students to Rensselaer to establish this as a selective, premier program.
• Develop a strong internship and coop program to afford opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and skills in supervised professional settings outside the classroom.
• Establish strong corporate partners and funded research programs to support research and development projects that have extensive undergraduate student participation.
• Expand the identity of Rensselaer as an international center for creative work in gamearts and sciences.
• Provide students with state-of-the-art technologies and facilities for game development and research.
• Develop a strong community network of Rensselaer alumni and promote interaction among them and current students.
• Provide supportive events, lectures and materials that give dimension to the games and simulation arts and sciences experience.
• Continue to host the annual GameFest conference and exhibition of new student games.
• Host conferences sponsored by professional organizations interested in game research.
• Establish an ongoing colloquium series to develop links with industry and academic and non-profit institutions, expose students and faculty to a wide range of perspectives, current issues, and challenges in the field.
• Develop a high end “living” website that showcases the work of students and faculty.
• Produce a series of publications on current digital games research presenting work from within the Rensselaer community and beyond.