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Benjamin Tran

Art & Design: Games & Playable Media (Sophomore)

Internship: NASA NeMo-Net, Mountain View, Calif.

CEI is helping me to get one step closer to achieving my dream job of being a full-time game designer. This program offers students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pursue their passions.

When Benjamin heard about the CEI program, he was immediately hooked and jumped at the opportunity to pursue his love of game design through obtaining an internship at NASA’s NeMO-Net, which is a single player iPad game where players help NASA classify coral reefs by painting 3D and 2D images of coral. “Through my position at NASA NeMo-Net, I will be growing my 3D modeling skills,” he says. “Having a mentor by my side, who I can learn from firsthand will help me grow so much as a student.”

Since most of the gaming courses that Benjamin has taken so far focus on 2D game design, he’s particularly eager to learn as much as possible about 3D design via his NeMo-Net experience. According to NeMo-Net, the game exploits active learning and data fusion of mm-scale remotely sensed 3D images of coral reefs captured using fluid lensing with the NASA FluidCam instrument, presently the highest-resolution remote sensing benthic imaging technology capable of removing ocean wave distortion.

“NASA, being a world-renowned leading company of scientific development, I find it very admirable about their goals and how it’s used for research,” says Benjamin. “Most games are made to bring enjoyment to the player, but NeMo-Net takes this a step further. It speaks to me, as games that aim to push scientific boundaries and educate the world are few and far between.”

During his free time Benjamin continues to enjoy gaming and playing video games. He also likes to play basketball, listen to K-Pop, watch the NBA, and check out various anime. But his main focus now is his upcoming internship where he also hopes to grow as an artist build his gaming skills.

“This internship will ultimately change the way I look at gaming and what can be done with it. I aim to be one of the gaming industry’s most prolific game designers bringing joy to millions of people around the globe and this internship is hopefully the start of that long journey ahead.”