Bio

Brian M. Winn is the Founder and Director of the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab and the Game Development Program at Michigan State University. Winn is also a Full Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Media and Information. Winn designs, creates, and researches interactive media experiences. Winn’s expertise is in designing “meaningful play” that combine games and meaningful objectives (such as learning, persuasion, motivation, and fitness). Winn’s “Design, Play, Experience Framework” presents a process for designing meaningful play. And Winn’s award-winning work has been presented, exhibited, and experienced around the world. Winn is an accomplished teacher who became an Apple Distinguished Educator in 2001 and a Lilly Teaching Fellow in 2005. Winn taught the first game design course at MSU back in 2000 and helped grow that one course into the top-rated MSU Game Design and Development program. Winn also co-teaches the popular online Coursera Specialization in Game Design and Development. Winn was a founder of the International Conference on Meaningful Play and has co-chaired the bi-annual conference since 2008. Winn also serves as a member of the Michigan Film and Digital Media Office Advisory Council since 2012, and is a faculty advisor of the MSU SpartaSoft student game developers group since 2001.