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I'm an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences at City University of New York, with joint appointments in Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience. I also have an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at New York University. My research interests include cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, glaucoma, neurodegenerative disorders, attention, learning, memory, educational technology, pedagogy, and developing games for education.
News and Views

Board Game Design and the Psychology of Loss Aversion

Geoff Engelstein from NYU and Mind Bullet Games presented a talk at the 2017 Game Developers Conference entitled “Board Game Design and the Psychology of Loss Aversion,” where he summarizes some of the major psychological principles related to choice and how they are implemented in games. The summary of the talk follows, and you can view the talk on the GDC Vault by following the link below:

Loss aversion is a core effect in human psychology. Simply stated, losses make people feel worse than gains make them feel better. In other words, the negative emotions from losing $100 are stronger than the positive emotions from gaining $100; about twice as strong according to a variety of experiments. The fundamental aspect of loss aversion to human psychology is very deep, and touches a wide variety of phenomenon, most of which are directly relevant to game design. This talk from veteran tabletop game designer Geoff Engelstein (‘Space Cadets’) examines board games and other relevant game-like experiences to explore framing, regret, competence, and other effects, and their relation to players’ relationship with the game experience.

Source: GDC Vault – Board Game Design Day: Board Game Design and the Psychology of Loss Aversion

News and Views

Internships with the Science and Technology Innovation Program | Wilson Center

The Science and Technology Innovation Program welcomes applicants for academic calendar internships. STIP focuses on understanding bottom-up, public innovation; top-down, policy innovation; and, on supporting responsible and equitable practices at the point where new technology and existing political, social, and cultural processes converge. We recommend exploring our blog and website first to determine if your research interests align with current STIP programming.

We offer two types of internships: research (open to law and graduate students only) and a social media and blogging internship (open to undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students). Non-degree seeking students are ineligible. All internships must be served in Washington, D.C. and cannot be done remotely.

Research Internships

For graduate students, law students, or those accepted to a graduate-level program, we offer a research internship. This is normally project-based, with current projects falling into roughly categories:

  • Citizen Health Innovators
  • Citizen Science
  • Public Communication of Science
  • Serious Games Initiative
  • Synthetic Biology and Genomics
  • Artificial Intelligence

 

Some flexibility may be available, as STIP also overlaps with other Wilson Center Programs. We encourage anyone with cross-disciplinary interests to apply, specifying the names of two programs they wish to work with.

Assignments may include:

  • Conducting independent research on science and technology innovation issues relevant to STIP initiatives
  • Co-authoring a journal article or Wilson Center policy brief
  • Developing grant proposals
  • Developing prototypes
  • Writing articles and blog posts for the STIP website, in conjunction with specific projects as described above.

 

Social Media Internship

Open to undergraduates, recent graduates and graduate students, our social media and blogging internship is open year-round. We do not limit by specific majors, but instead look for students who are interested in engaging with issues around STEM from a multitude of perspectives, including the applications to science, policy, and the public.

Assignments may include:

  • Drafting posts for our new blog, CTRL Forward
  • Assisting with events and conferences
  • Researching issues around biotechnology, nanotechnology, genomics, citizen science, and serious/educational video games
  • Assisting the preparation of publications and/or outreach materials
  • Performing administrative assignments in support of STIP activities

 

Applying:

To apply please email Elizabeth.Newbury@wilsoncenter.org with the following information. Please specify in the subject line the intended time period for your internship with [SEMESTER] [YEAR] Internship e.g. “SPRING 2018 Internship”

  • Cover letter explaining your interest in STIP
  • CV/Resume
  • 1-2 page writing sample
  • SPRING/SUMMER/FALL availability

 

As we accept internships year-round, the application is rolling. Due to the sheer volume of applications we receive, only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. To ensure your consideration, please submit only a completed application.

Addendums

This internship is unpaid. Applicants should be able to commit at least 20 hours a week.

International students are eligible, but they must hold a valid F-1 or J-1 visa and appropriate work authorization. All international students must obtain written permission from their Designated School Official or Responsible Visa Officer at their university stating that they are in valid immigration status and eligible to do an internship at the Center.

The Wilson Center is an equal opportunity employer and follows equal opportunity employment guidelines in the selection of its interns.

Special Internship Opportunity: Advancing Citizen and Patient-Driven Biomedical Research & Innovation

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Science and Technology Innovation Program welcomes applicants from graduate programs (including Masters and PhD) for academic calendar internships. STIP focuses on understanding bottom-up, public innovation; top-down, policy innovation; and, on supporting responsible and equitable practices at the point where new technology and existing political, social, and cultural processes converge. We recommend exploring our blog and website to determine how your research interests align with STIP programming prior to applying.

This fall, we are seeking a research intern with a specialty in topics including precision medicine, biomedical research and innovation, and/or science policy, ethics and regulation on biomedical research to work with our Citizen Science and Health Program. Applicants with backgrounds in technology development or science and technology studies (STS) will also be considered. Experience conducting cross and trans-disciplinary research is an asset.

STIP interns advance a specific research project, while also providing general intellectual and logistical support.

The project associated with this internship will relate to analyzing key challenges and promises arising in the domain of citizen and patient-driven biomedical research and innovation, including interesting trends in precision medicine. The intern may:

  • Help curate the Citizen Health Innovators Map and community, data-mining and reaching out to innovators and experts.
  • Co-author analyses on challenges and promises in citizen and patient-driven biomedical research and innovation
  • Conduct research and/or capacity building to support the mission of the Citizen Health Innovators Project, for example by advancing work in mapping citizen and patient-driven innovation and matching these trends with tech skills and regulatory expertise
  • There will be opportunities to write and gain expertise – this is part of the internship goals.

Support operations may include:

  • Conducting independent research on science and technology innovation issues relevant to STIP initiatives, as requested by supervisor.
  • Co-authoring a journal article or Wilson Center policy brief.
  • Developing grant proposals.
  • Writing articles and blog posts for the STIP website, in conjunction with specific projects as described above.

Desired skills include:

  • Familiarity with precision medicine, biomedical research and innovation, and/or science policy, ethics and regulation on biomedical research
  • Familiarity with national regulation and guidelines on precision medicine in USA
  • Ability to write for multiple audiences (academic publications, white papers, social media, etc.)
  • Ability to work independently with minimal day-to-day guidance.

This internship is paid. Applicants should be able to commit 20 hours a week to this position.

International students are eligible, but they must hold a valid F-1 or J-1 visa and appropriate work authorization. All international students must obtain written permission from their Designated School Official or Responsible Visa Officer at their university stating that they are in valid immigration status and eligible to do an internship at the Center.

The Wilson Center is an equal opportunity employer and follows equal opportunity employment guidelines in the selection of its interns.

To apply please email Elizabeth.Newbury@wilsoncenter.org with the following information. Please specify in the subject line the intended time period for your internship with [SEMESTER] [YEAR] Internship e.g. “FALL 2017 Internship”

Source: Internships with the Science and Technology Innovation Program | Wilson Center

News and Views

Summary and Review of the 2017 Games for Change Festival

EdSurge news recently published a summary of the 2017 Games for Change Festival that happened in New York City this week. Please follow the link below for the full article. I’ve attended G4C for several years now, and my experience has waxed and waned as the conference has shifted its focus from year-to-year. Without going into great detail, I’ll list a few of what I see as the PROs and CONs of the conference. I know it might sound like a rant, but I’m really hoping conference organizers will find better ways to facilitate growth in the field. Speaking of which, don’t forget to sign up for the CUNY Games Conference!

PROs

  1. The conference started with an invitational VR Brain Jam associated with the VR for Change Summit, where neuroscientists were paired randomly with game development teams to create an experience for virtual reality. This was the absolute highlight of the conference, and I’m hoping that conferences will shift their focus away from traditional lectures to active problem solving sessions. The Learning Sciences have demonstrated that this format is effective in the classroom, so why don’t we apply it to our own conferences?  Even the National Science Foundation summits have highly focused problem solving sessions that culminate in products for the general community (e.g., CIRCL Center’s Cyberlearning primers). [Attached is a brief slideshow of our project. Keep in mind we only had 48 hours to develop the project and 2 minutes to present to the group. It was also the first time anyone from the team had attempted networked multiplayer gaming.]
  2. There were new and interesting tracks. It was interesting to compare the approaches and developments between orthogonal fields like neurogaming and journalism.
  3. There was a contingent of talented neuroscientists at the conference. While there may have been some psychologists and neuroscientists at previous conferences, this was the first year I recognized people from the mainstream (i.e., people I new in the field, people I might also run into at the annual meeting for the Society for Neuroscience, or people who had a deep knowledge of the scientific literature). Acknowledging that they are also socio-cultural experiences, we can’t forget that games are primarily psychological experiences, and learning is ultimately a physiological process. The scientists that came to the festival this year brought a much needed perspective on perception, attention, learning, emotion, methodology, and analysis.
  4. I didn’t participate in the format, but the “speed dating for devs” seemed to be a really great way of making connections and amplifying the network.
  5. There were good opportunities for networking between sessions.
  6. There were some great keynote speakers (see the EdSurge article).

CONs

  1. There continues to be a lack of data, solid research methodologies, or even an attempt to measure the impact, efficacy, or scaleability of games for change. I’m not a fan of trial-and-error, particularly when important/timely solutions are needed or taxpayer money is used. Games for Change has always felt like a cheerleading session for me, but I’m not alone. The developers I spoke with didn’t get much from the talks either. Most wanted more technical details, emphasis on innovations, and discussions about things that didn’t work in the production pipeline.
  2. While there were many great keynote speakers, there were also many that fell flat. The absence of key figures in the field was noticeable.
  3. Everything ran late.
  4. There was never enough food, and the food options weren’t great. I’d pay a little more to bring in vendors.
  5. There was way too much room allocated to the keynotes and not nearly enough for the breakout sessions.

Has the Game Really Changed? Notes From the 2017 Games for Change Festival | EdSurge News