From glee kid to computer whiz
For Concordia alumnus Ben Mattes (BCompSc ’00), the road from glee kid to computer whiz was paved by a high school science fair. Now, well over a decade after his passion in computer science was ignited, Mattes is returning to his alma mater for the 2011 Hydro-Québec Montreal Regional Science Fair.
The event, also known as Expo-sciences, is slated to kick off on Sunday, March 27 with opening festivities that will feature Mattes as the keynote speaker.
Kids from around the city will come to Concordia to display their winning science fair projects in the hopes of progressing to the provincial competition. “I was literally in their shoes, so it feels like coming full circle,” says Mattes of his participation in the science fair. “I was a band geek and glee kid throughout high school and thought that I was going to continue on in music. But when my team won a school-wide science fair in Grade 10, that’s when it started to click for me that science was cool.”
The following year, Mattes designed his own computer-based project for his school’s science fair. Although he didn’t wind up winning, by then he was hooked: “I knew I wanted to make my living working with computers, and because I had been an avid gamer ever since I first played Super Mario Bros., working in video game development seemed like the best way to do it.”
A decade later, Mattes is a producer at Ubisoft, “the behemoth of computer gaming here in Montreal,” he laughs. The latest game he produced was the hugely popular Prince of Persia (2008). These days, he’s producing games on a smaller scale. “The future of gaming lies in mobile and online applications,” he explains.
Perhaps the future of gaming also lies in the bright young students who will come to Concordia for Expo-sciences next week, and who just might be inspired by Mattes’s keynote address to pursue scientific careers of their own.
Related Links:
• Expo-sciences Concordia
• Expo-sciences Quebec
• Ubisoft Canada