Home
QR Code

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Daniel Laughlin and game screenshot

Monday, September 23, 2013 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Daniel Laughlin

"Moonbase Alpha and Other NASA Games"

ABSTRACT -- In 2010, Moonbase Alpha was released on the popular digital games distribution network Steam. The game combines elements of NASA's lunar architecture with Epic's Unreal 3 Engine to create a compelling "first person explorer" experience for players. Intended as a proof of concept, Moonbase Alpha has proven to be more popular and enduring than even the most optimistic predictions with national and international media coverage. It was named "Government Serious Game of the Year" and featured at I/ITSEC's Serious Games Showcase and Challenge. In this talk, the project lead will discuss Moonbase Alpha and other NASA games for platforms from Android to Xbox and the White House games initiative.

SPEAKER -- Dr. Daniel Laughlin is an assistant research scientist with the NASA Goddard Earth Science Technology and Research (GESTAR) center at Morgan State University. He leads research on the educational applications of games and virtual worlds for NASA Education. He serves as the executive secretary of the White House's National Science and Technology Council subcommittee on Digital Gaming Technology and co-chair of the Federal Games Working Group.

Dr. Laughlin is the author of "Overcoming Objections to MUVEs in Education" in Vincenti and Braman's Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments: Applying Dynamic Elements to the Modern Classroom (2010). Dr. Laughlin is NASA's project lead for Moonbase Alpha, an award winning, free, multiplayer, online STEM inspiration game based on NASA's lunar architecture.

Dr. Laughlin received his Ph.D. in Education from American University in 2001. His focus was on information technology in education and research in cognition experimenting with methods to explicitly teach critical and scientific thinking skills. Before joining the GESTAR, Dr. Laughlin taught for fourteen years including courses to prepare pre-service and in-service teachers to effectively incorporate technology in their classrooms.


Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov