Associate Dean Magda El Zarki of UC Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences is now the Executive Director of the newly established Center for Computer Games & Virtual Worlds.
It’s a Far Cry (pun intended) from digital circuitry design and electromagnetics, but Dr. Magda El Zarki, professor of Information and Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, will head up UC Irvine’s Center for Computer Games & Virtual Worlds.
By next fall, UC Irvine will open admission to 50-100 eager students who will be able to declare a four-year major in Game Science. With access to a 4,000 sq.ft. cyber-interaction observatory, students will study everything from anthropology in virtual worlds to brain-computer interface sciences. If you are not a student, don’t fret, the Center will open its doors to visiting scholars, offer workshops, and partner with other virtual world and computer game science centers worldwide.
Though the Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds will focus on research and development, companies like Irvine-based Blizzard and French-based Ubisoft, creators of the Far Cry series, will eventually have access to employees with degrees in game science giving the gaming world a bit of needed legitimacy.
Since the UC system just closed its application process for Fall 2010 on November 30th, be ready for the following year when the cyber observatory will open its doors!
