David Bartle, who received his Master's of Science in Computer Science, has received a prestigious award and discounted the old notion that videogames will rot your brain. The work done by Bartle and his team garnered him one of the 2011 Google Lime scholarships — the only one awarded to a student at a Canadian university. The scholarship recognizes students with disabilities who have not only shown achievement in computer science, but have also demonstrated passion and leadership within their studies. Bartle has developed two suites of serious games meant to help with therapeutic interventions for children with such disorders as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). For his master’s thesis, he worked with a group of three undergraduate students to create Caribbean Quest, a web-based suite of serious games that is targeted towards children aged six to 13.

Read more about David's research in the June 2012 issue of The Ring.