Seth Cooper Associate Professor Khoury College of Computer Sciences Northeastern University
Media - Publications - Other Works - Games and Software - Students - Awards - Misc
	I am an associate professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. I received my PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington, advised by Zoran Popović. My current research focuses on using video games to solve difficult scientific problems; I have delivered multiple TED talks on the topic. I am co-creator of the scientific discovery games Foldit and Nanocrafter and early math educational games including Refraction and Treefrog Treasure. I have also done research in real-time animation for games. I have previously worked at the Center for Game Science (as creative director), Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Pixar Animation Studios and the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory (on BOINC, the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). If you are a student interested in working in game science research, feel free to contact me!
	Media
	Check out the mention of some of my work in a recent Veritasium (around 7:00)! Games Now!  -  The Promise of Tomorrow  -  NewTV  -  Computing Community Consortium Symposium Nanocrafter STEM for All  -  Foldit STEM for All TEDxPanthéonSorbonne  -  TEDxVancouver  -  TEDMED The Contenders  -  Fold It NPR  -  Brian Lehrer Live  -  GSummit  -  MedCrunch Nature Medicine  -  Science
	Publications
		Erica Kleinman, Rana Jahani, Eileen McGivney, Mehmet Kosa, Seth Cooper and Casper Harteveld. From locked rooms to open minds: escape room best practices to enhance reflection in extended reality learning environments. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2025). [paper] [doi]
		Mahsa Bazzaz and Seth Cooper. Analysis of robustness of a large game corpus. Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2025). ★ Early Career Best Paper [paper] [doi]
		Fiona Shyne and Seth Cooper. Computational tools for table-top role-playing games: a scoping review. Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2025). [paper] [doi]
		Seth Cooper and Mahsa Bazzaz. Stuck in the middle: generating levels without (or with) softlocks. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2025). [paper] [doi]
		Mahsa Bazzaz and Seth Cooper. Level generation with constrained expressive range. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2025). [paper] [doi]
		Mahsa Bazzaz and Seth Cooper. Analysis of uncertainty in procedural maps in Slay the Spire. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2025). [paper] [doi]
		Kaylah Facey and Seth Cooper. Toward space-time WaveFunctionCollapse for level and solution generation. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). ★ Best Student Paper [paper] [doi] [video]
		Seth Cooper and Mahsa Bazzaz. Sturgeon-MKIV: constraint-based level and playthrough generation with graph label rewrite rules. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). [paper] [doi]
		Fiona Shyne, Kaylah Facey and Seth Cooper. Procedurally puzzling: on algorithmic difficulty and player experience in QD-generated logic grid puzzles. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). [paper] [doi] [video]
		Fiona Shyne and Seth Cooper. No player left behind: evolving Dungeons and Dragons combat to optimize difficulty and player contributions. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). [paper] [doi] [video]
		Mahsa Bazzaz and Seth Cooper. Guided game level repair via explainable AI. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). [paper] [doi] [video]
		Mahsa Bazzaz and Seth Cooper. Controllable game level generation: assessing the effect of negative examples in GAN models. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). [paper] [doi] [video]
		Seth Cooper. level2image: a utility for making 2D tile-based level images with overlays. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2024). [paper] [doi] [video]
		Kaylah Facey and Seth Cooper. Isofict: toward continuous interactive fiction. Proceedings of the Workshop on Intelligent Narrative Technologies (2024). [paper] [video]
		Kutub Gandhi and Seth Cooper. Going from a "well made slideshow" to a full game: insights from the development of an urban planning educational game. [paper] [doi] Proceedings of Meaningful Play (2024).
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Latent combinational game design. IEEE Transactions on Games (2024). [paper] [doi]
		Fiona Shyne, Kaylah Facey and Seth Cooper. Generating solvable and difficult logic grid puzzles. Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion (2024). [paper] [doi]
		Jiayi Zhou, Chris Martens and Seth Cooper. Authoring games with tile rewrite rule behavior trees. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2024). [paper] [doi] [info]
		Nicholas Osborn and Seth Cooper. Asynchronous collaboration with quality-diversity search in human computation games. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2024). [paper] [doi]
		Seth Cooper and Mahsa Bazzaz. Literally unplayable: on constraint-based generation of uncompletable levels. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2024). [paper] [doi] [info]
		Colan Biemer and Seth Cooper. Solution path heuristics for predicting difficulty and enjoyment ratings of roguelike level segments. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2024). [paper] [doi]
		Josh Aaron Miller, Kutub Gandhi, Matthew Alexander Whitby, Mehmet Kosa, Seth Cooper, Elisa D. Mekler and Ioanna Iacovides. A design framework for reflective play. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2024). [paper] [doi]
		Johor Jara Gonzalez, Seth Cooper and Matthew Guzdial. Mechanic maker 2.0: reinforcement learning for evaluating generated rules. Proceedings of the Nineteenth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Seth Cooper, Faisal Abutarab, Emily Halina and Nathan Sturtevant. Visual exploration of tile level datasets. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2023). [paper] [info]
		Seth Cooper and Eden Balema. Learning constrained graph layout for content generation. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2023). [paper]
		Hao Mao and Seth Cooper. Segment-wise level generation using iterative constrained extension. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Venkata Sai Revanth Atmakuri, Seth Cooper and Matthew Guzdial. Game level blending using a learned level representation. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Seth Cooper and Matthew Guzdial. path2level: constraint-based level generation from paths. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2023). [doi] [info]
		Mahsa Bazzaz and Seth Cooper. Active learning for classifying 2D grid-based level completability. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Joshua Aaron Miller, Libuše Hannah Vepřek, Sebastian Deterding and Seth Cooper. Practical recommendations from a multi-perspective needs and challenges assessment of citizen science games. PLoS ONE (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Seth Cooper. Sturgeon-GRAPH: constrained graph generation from examples. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2023). [paper] [doi] [video] [info]
		Josh Aaron Miller, Katherine Buse, Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal, Justin Siegel, Seth Cooper and Colin Milburn. Wrapped in story: the affordances of narrative for citizen science games. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2023). ★ Best Paper [paper] [doi] [video]
		Seth Cooper. Sturgeon-MKIII: simultaneous level and example playthrough generation via constraint satisfaction with tile rewrite rules. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2023). [paper] [doi] [info]
		Seth Cooper, Emily Halina, Jichen Zhu and Matthew Guzdial. Re-trainable Procedural Level Generation via Machine Learning (RT-PLGML) as game mechanic. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Eliza Boetsch, Scott Eustis, Kutub Gandhi, Matt Rota, Archana Apte, Seth Cooper and Sara Wylie. An effective online platform for crowd classification of coastal wetland loss. Conservation Science and Practice (2023). [paper] [doi]
		Kutub Gandhi, Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Scott Eustis, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. Performance of paid and volunteer image labeling in citizen science — a retrospective analysis. Proceedings of the 10th AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing (2022). [paper]
		Seth Cooper. Sturgeon: tile-based procedural level generation via learned and designed constraints. Proceedings of the Eighteenth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2022). [paper] [video]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. tile2tile: learning game filters for platformer style transfer. Proceedings of the Eighteenth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2022). [paper] [video]
		Alexander D. Stoneman, Josh Aaron Miller and Seth Cooper. Effects of player-level matchmaking methods in a live citizen science game. Proceedings of the Eighteenth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2022). [paper]
		Josh Aaron Miller, Kutub Gandhi, Anna Gander and Seth Cooper. A survey of citizen science gaming experiences. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice (2022). [paper]
		Seth Cooper. Constraint-based 2D tile game blending in the Sturgeon system. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2022). [paper] [video]
		Colan F. Biemer and Seth Cooper. Level assembly as a Markov decision process. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2022). [paper] [video]
		Chaima Jemmali, Magy Seif El-Nasr and Seth Cooper. The effects of adaptive procedural levels on engagement and performance in an educational programming game. Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2022). [paper]
		Kutub Gandhi, Josh Aaron Miller and Seth Cooper. “Philosophy is seeped into every brick” - weaving reflective elements into mass-market games. Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2022). [paper]
		Seth Cooper. A case study of quality-diversity search in human computation. Human Computation (2022). [paper]
		Colan F. Biemer and Seth Cooper. On linking level segments. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2022). ★ Best Paper Nominee [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Ordering levels in human computation games using playtraces and level structure. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2022). [paper]
		Josh Aaron Miller and Seth Cooper. Barriers to expertise in citizen science games. Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2022). [paper]
		Josh Aaron Miller and Seth Cooper. Case studies in game-based complex learning. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (2021). [paper]
		Josh Aaron Miller, Britton Horn, Matthew Guthrie, Jonathan Romano, Guy Geva, Celia David, Amy Robinson Sterling and Seth Cooper. How do players and developers of citizen science games conceptualize skill chains? Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (2021). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Procedural Content Generation using Behavior Trees (PCGBT). Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2021). [paper]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. Exploring Q-learning for adaptive difficulty in a tile-based image labeling game. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2021). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Dungeon and platformer level blending and generation using conditional VAEs. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2021). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. An online system for player-vs-level matchmaking in human computation games. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2021). [paper]
		Kutub Gandhi, Josh Aaron Miller, Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Archana Apte, Borna Fatehi, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. A comparison of augmented reality and browser versions of a citizen science game. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2021). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Generating and blending game levels via quality-diversity in the latent space of a variational autoencoder. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2021). [paper]
		Pratheep Kumar Paranthaman, Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Applying rapid crowdsourced playtesting to a human computation game. Proceedings of the FDG Game Analytics Workshop (2021). [paper]
		Colan F. Biemer, Alejandro Hervella and Seth Cooper. Gram-Elites: n-gram based quality-diversity search. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2021). [paper]
		Aditya Ponnada, Seth Cooper, Qu Tang, Binod Thapa-Chhetry, Josh Aaron Miller, Dinesh John and Stephen Intille. Signaligner Pro: a tool to explore and annotate multi-day raw accelerometer data. 2021 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (2021). [paper] [PubMed]
		Zhihan Yang, Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Game level clustering and generation using Gaussian Mixture VAEs. Proceedings of the Sixteenth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2020). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Evaluating and comparing skill chains and rating systems for dynamic difficulty adjustment. Proceedings of the Sixteenth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2020). [paper]
		Chaima Jemmali, Carter Ithier, Seth Cooper and Magy Seif El-Nasr. Grammar based modular level generator for a programming puzzle game. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2020). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar, Zhihan Yang and Seth Cooper. Conditional level generation and game blending. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2020). [paper]
		Vivian Lee, Nathan Partlan and Seth Cooper. Precomputing player movement in platformers for level generation with reachability constraints. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2020). [paper]
		Seth Cooper and Anurag Sarkar. Pathfinding agents for platformer level repair. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2020). [paper]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Borna Fatehi, Melanie Smith, Avery Rosenbloom, Josh Aaron Miller, Magy Seif El-Nasr, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. Tile-o-Scope AR: an augmented reality tabletop image labeling game toolkit. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2020). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Sequential segment-based level generation and blending using variational autoencoders. Proceedings of the FDG Workshop on Procedural Content Generation (2020). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Towards game design via creative ML (GDCML). Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2020). ★ Best Paper Candidate [paper]
		Julia Koehler Leman, Brian D. Weitzner, Steven M. Lewis et al. Macromolecular modeling and design in Rosetta: recent methods and frameworks. Nature Methods (2020). [paper]
		Firas Khatib, Ambroise Desfosses, Foldit Players, Brian Koepnick, Jeff Flatten, Zoran Popović, David Baker, Seth Cooper, Irina Gutsche and Scott Horowitz. Building de novo cryo-electron microscopy structures collaboratively with citizen scientists. PLOS Biology (2019). [paper]
		Andrew T. Walter, Benjamin Boskin, Seth Cooper and Panagiotis Manolios. Gamification of loop-invariant discovery from code. Proceedings of the 7th AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing (2019). [paper]
		Pratheep Kumar Paranthaman and Seth Cooper. ARAPID: towards integrating crowdsourced playtesting into the game development environment. Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (2019). [paper]
		Aditya Ponnada, Seth Cooper, Binod Thapa-Chhetry, Josh Aaron Miller, Dinesh John and Stephen Intille. Designing videogames to crowdsource accelerometer data annotation for activity recognition research. Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (2019). [paper] [PubMed]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. Using Q-learning for sequencing level difficulties in a citizen science matching game. Extended Abstracts of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts (2019). [paper]
		Josh Aaron Miller, Vivian Lee, Seth Cooper and Magy Seif El-Nasr. Large-scale analysis of visualization options in a citizen science game. Extended Abstracts of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts (2019). [paper] [PubMed]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Using a disjoint skill model for game and task difficulty in human computation games. Extended Abstracts of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts (2019). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar, Zhihan Yang and Seth Cooper. Controllable level blending between games using variational autoencoders. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2019). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Using rating arrays to estimate score distributions for player-versus-level matchmaking. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2019). [paper]
		Josh Aaron Miller, Uttkarsh Narayan, Matthew Hantsbarger, Seth Cooper and Magy Seif El-Nasr. Expertise and engagement: re-designing citizen science games with players' minds in mind. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2019). [paper] [PubMed]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Inferring and comparing game difficulty curves using player-vs-level match data. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Games (2019). [paper] [PubMed]
		Brian Koepnick et al. De novo protein design by citizen scientists. Nature (2019). [paper] [PubMed]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Transforming game difficulty curves using function composition. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2019). [paper]
		Thomas Muender, Sadaab Ali Gulani, Lauren Westendorf, Clarissa Verish, Rainer Malaka, Orit Shaer and Seth Cooper. Comparison of mouse and multi-touch for protein structure manipulation in a citizen science game interface. Journal of Science Communication (2019). [paper]
		Lorna Dsilva, Shubhi Mittal, Brian Koepnick, Jeff Flatten, Seth Cooper and Scott Horowitz. Creating custom Foldit puzzles for teaching biochemistry. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (2019). [paper] [PubMed]
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		Britton Horn, Josh Aaron Miller, Gillian Smith and Seth Cooper. A Monte Carlo approach to skill-based automated playtesting. Proceedings of the 14th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2018). [paper] [PubMed]
		Anurag Sarkar, Varun Sriram, Riddhi Padte, Jeffrey Cao and Seth Cooper. Desire path-inspired procedural placement of coins in a platformer game. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2018). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Blending levels from different games using LSTMs. Proceedings of the Experimental AI in Games Workshop (2018). [paper]
		Zhengxing Chen, Truong-Huy D. Nguyen, Yuyu Xu, Christopher Amato, Seth Cooper, Yizhou Sun and Magy Seif El-Nasr. The art of drafting: a team-oriented hero recommendation system for multiplayer online battle arena games. Proceedings of the Twelfth ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (2018). [paper]
		Zhengxing Chen, Christopher Amato, Truong-Huy D. Nguyen, Seth Cooper, Yizhou Sun and Magy Seif El-Nasr. Q-DeckRec: a fast deck recommendation system for collectible card games. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (2018). [paper]
		Seth Cooper, Amy L. R. Sterling, Robert Kleffner, William M. Silversmith and Justin B. Siegel. Repurposing citizen science games as software tools for professional scientists. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2018). [paper] [PubMed]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Meet your match rating: providing skill information and choice in player-versus-level matchmaking. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2018). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Comparing paid and volunteer recruitment in human computation games. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2018). [paper]
		Chen Keasar et al. An analysis and evaluation of the WeFold collaborative for protein structure prediction and its pipelines in CASP11 and CASP12. Scientific Reports (2018). [paper] [PubMed]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. Does flight path context matter? Impact on worker performance in crowdsourced aerial imagery analysis. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (2018). [paper]
		Britton Horn, Seth Cooper and Sebastian Deterding. Adapting cognitive task analysis to elicit the skill chain of a game. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (2017). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Level difficulty and player skill prediction in human computation games. Proceedings of the 13th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (2017). [paper]
		Michael Williams, Anurag Sarkar and Seth Cooper. Predicting human computation game scores with player rating systems. Entertainment Computing - Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (2017). [paper]
		Anurag Sarkar, Michael Williams, Sebastian Deterding and Seth Cooper. Engagement effects of player rating system-based matchmaking for level ordering in human computation games. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2017). ★ Honorable Mention [paper]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti and Seth Cooper. On variety, complexity, and engagement in crowdsourced disaster response tasks. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (2017). ★ Best Student Paper Nominee [paper]
		Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Rebecca Govoni, Jennifer S. Carrera, Sara Wylie and Seth Cooper. A required work payment scheme for crowdsourced disaster response: worker performance and motivations. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (2017). [paper]
		Robert Kleffner, Jeff Flatten, Andrew Leaver-Fay, David Baker, Justin B. Siegel, Firas Khatib and Seth Cooper. Foldit Standalone: a video game-derived protein structure manipulation interface using Rosetta. Bioinformatics (2017). [paper] [PubMed]
		Jacqueline Gaston and Seth Cooper. To three or not to three: improving human computation game onboarding with a three-star system. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2017). [paper] [PubMed]
		Scott Horowitz, Brian Koepnick, Raoul Martin et al. Determining crystal structures through crowdsourcing and coursework. Nature Communications (2016). [paper] [PubMed]
		Seth Cooper, Sebastian Deterding and Theo Tsapakos. Player rating systems for balancing human computation games: testing the effect of bipartiteness. Proceedings of the 1st International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG (2016). [paper]
		Matt Stanton, Sascha Geddert, Adrian Blumer, Paul Hormis, Andy Nealen, Seth Cooper and Adrien Treuille. Large-scale finite state game engines. Proceedings of the Eurographics/ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Computer Animation (2016). [paper] [video] [video]
		Dun-Yu Hsiao, Min Sun, Christy Ballweber, Seth Cooper and Zoran Popović. Proactive sensing for improving hand pose estimation. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2016). [paper] [video]
		Tim Pavlik, Craig Conner, Jonathan Burke, Matthew Burns, Werner Dietl, Seth Cooper, Michael D. Ernst and Zoran Popović. Flow Jam and Paradox. In Drew Dean et al. Lessons learned in game development for crowdsourced software formal verification. Proceedings of the USENIX Summit on Gaming, Games, and Gamification in Security Education (2015). [paper]
		Jonathan Barone, Colin Bayer, Rowan Copley, Nova Barlow, Matthew Burns, Sundipta Rao, Georg Seelig, Zoran Popović, Seth Cooper and Nanocrafter Players. Nanocrafter: design and evaluation of a DNA nanotechnology game. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2015). [paper]
		Dun-Yu Hsiao, Seth Cooper, Christy Ballweber and Zoran Popović. User behavior transformation through dynamic input mappings. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2014). [paper]
		George A. Khoury et al. WeFold: a coopetition for protein structure prediction. Proteins (2014). [paper] [PubMed]
		Aaron Bauer, Seth Cooper and Zoran Popović. Automated redesign of local playspace properties. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2013). [paper]
		Werner Dietl, Stephanie Dietzel, Michael D. Ernst, Nathaniel Mote, Brian Walker, Seth Cooper, Timothy Pavlik and Zoran Popović. Verification games: making verification fun. Proceedings of the 14th Workshop on Formal Techniques for Java-like Programs (2012). [paper]
		Erik Andersen, Eleanor O'Rourke, Yun-En Liu, Richard Snider, Jeff Lowdermilk, David Truong, Seth Cooper and Zoran Popović. The impact of tutorials on games of varying complexity. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2012). ★ Best Paper Nominee [paper]
		Christopher B. Eiben, Justin B. Siegel, Jacob B. Bale, Seth Cooper, Firas Khatib, Betty W. Shen, Foldit Players, Barry L. Stoddard, Zoran Popović and David Baker. Increased Diels-Alderase activity through backbone remodeling guided by Foldit players. Nature Biotechnology (2012). [paper] [PubMed]
		Firas Khatib, Seth Cooper, Michael D. Tyka, Kefan Xu, Ilya Makedon, Zoran Popović, David Baker and Foldit Players. Algorithm discovery by protein folding game players. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2011). ★ Science Editor's Choice [paper] [PubMed]
		Miroslaw Gilski, Maciej Kazmierczyk, Szymon Krzywda, Helena Zábranská, Seth Cooper, Zoran Popović, Firas Khatib, Frank DiMaio, James Thompson, David Baker, Iva Pichová and Mariusz Jaskolskia. High-resolution structure of a retroviral protease folded as a monomer. Acta Crystallographica (2011). [paper] [PubMed]
		Firas Khatib, Frank DiMaio, Foldit Contenders Group, Foldit Void Crushers Group, Seth Cooper, Maciej Kazmierczyk, Miroslaw Gilski, Szymon Krzywda, Helena Zábranská, Iva Pichová, James Thompson, Zoran Popović, Mariusz Jaskolski and David Baker. Crystal structure of a monomeric retroviral protease solved by protein folding game players. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology (2011). ★ NSMB Article of the Month [paper] [PubMed]
		Seth Cooper, Firas Khatib, Ilya Makedon, Hao Lu, Janos Barbero, David Baker, James Fogarty, Zoran Popović and Foldit Players. Analysis of social gameplay macros in the Foldit cookbook. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2011). [paper]
		Erik Andersen, Yun-En Liu, Richard Snider, Roy Szeto, Seth Cooper and Zoran Popović. On the harmfulness of secondary game objectives. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2011). [paper] [project]
		Yun-En Liu, Erik Andersen, Richard Snider, Seth Cooper and Zoran Popović. Feature-based projections for effective playtrace analysis. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2011). [paper] [project]
		Andrew Leaver-Fay et al. ROSETTA3: an object-oriented software suite for the simulation and design of macromolecules. Methods in Enzymology (2011). [paper] [PubMed]
		Seth Cooper, Firas Khatib, Adrien Treuille, Janos Barbero, Jeehyung Lee, Michael Beenen, Andrew Leaver-Fay, David Baker, Zoran Popović and Foldit Players. Predicting protein structures with a multiplayer online game. Nature (2010). [paper] [PubMed]
		Seth Cooper, Adrien Treuille, Janos Barbero, Andrew Leaver-Fay, Kathleen Tuite, Firas Khatib, Alex Cho Snyder, Michael Beenen, David Salesin, David Baker, Zoran Popović and Foldit players. The challenge of designing scientific discovery games. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (2010). [paper]
		Seth Cooper, Aaron Hertzmann and Zoran Popović. Active learning for real-time motion controllers. ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) (2007). [paper] [video] [project]
		Adrien Treuille, Seth Cooper and Zoran Popović. Continuum crowds. ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) (2006). ★ Google Scholar 2006 Classics in Computer Graphics [paper] [video] [project]
	Other Works
		Josh Aaron Miller, Firas Khatib, Haley Hammond, Seth Cooper and Scott Horowitz. Introducing Foldit Education Mode. Correspondence, Nature Structural and Molecular Biology (2020). [link]
		Seth Cooper. Massively multiplayer research: gamification and (citizen) science. In Steffen P. Walz and Sebastian Deterding, eds. The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications. Book chapter, The MIT Press (2015). [link] [The MIT Press] [Amazon]
		Seth Cooper. A framework for scientific discovery through video games. Book, ACM and Morgan & Claypool (2014). [link] [Amazon]
		Seth Cooper, Firas Khatib and David Baker. Increasing public involvement in structural biology. Commentary, Structure (2013). [link] [PubMed]
		Seth Cooper and the Foldit Team. Foldit screenshot of a retroviral protease. Digital image (2011), display at Wing Luke Museum (2012).
		Seth Cooper. A framework for scientific discovery through video games. Doctoral dissertation, University of Washington (2011). [link]
	Games and Software
		Foldit A scientific discovery game about protein folding and design ★ Curry Stone Design Prize Social Design Circle Honoree (2017) ★ The Dr. Frank H. Netter Award for Special Contributions to Medical Education (2013) ★ Honorable Mention (Technical Excellence), Independent Games Festival (2013) ★ Category Winner (Behavioral Change), Katerva Award (2012) ★ 1st Place (Interactive Games), NSF International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge (2011) ★ Innovation of the Year, TechFlash Newsmaker Awards (2011) ★ Finalist, I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge (2011) ★ Finalist, Games for Change Direct Impact Award (2011) ★ Nominee, World Technology Award (2010) ★ Runner up, Madrona Prize (2008) [website (download required)]
		Foldit Standalone A protein structure manipulation application based on the Foldit interface [website (download and license required)]
		Sturgeon A system for constraint-based procedural level generation [code]
		level2image A tool for making marked-up images of 2D tile game levels [code]
		pathfinding-repair A tool for using pathfinding agents to repair uncompletable game levels [code]
		Cartoscope A platform for citizen science image analysis and mapping [website]
		Signaligner Pro An interactive tool for algorithm-assisted exploration and annotation of raw accelerometer data [website (download required)]
		Nanocrafter A scientific discovery game about building nanomachines ★ Top Ten Citizen Science Projects, SciStarter (2015) ★ Top 10 (Interactives), NSF Visualization Challenge (2015) ★ Best Social Media Crowdsourcing, I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge (2014)
		Refraction An educational puzzle game about fractional partitioning ★ Best Work (Primary School category), 38th NHK Japan Prize (2011) ★ Top 25, Kongregate Summer Mobile Game Contest (2011) ★ Grand Prize: Best in Show Award, Disney Learning Challenge, SIGGRAPH (2010) ★ Weekly 2nd Place, kongregate.com (2010)
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		Vampire Vision A visual search game about perception ★ Daily 2nd Place, newgrounds.com (2011)
		Paradox A problem-solving game about Boolean constraint satisfaction
		Treefrog Treasure An educational platforming game about number lines
		Creature Capture An educational card game about fraction comparisons
		Riddle Books An educational game about word problems
		Flow Jam A problem-solving game about verifying software
	Students
	Current	PhD Students    Fiona Shyne    Kaylah Facey    Mahsa Bazzaz    Kutub Gandhi    Colan Biemer
	Past	Postdocs    Pratheep Kumar Paranthaman PhD Students    Anurag Sarkar    Josh Aaron Miller (co-advised with Magy Seif El-Nasr)    Chaima Jemmali (co-advised with Magy Seif El-Nasr)    Sofia Eleni Spatharioti    Britton Horn (co-advised with Gillian Smith)
	Awards
	NSF CAREER Award (2017) Google Faculty Research Award (2015) ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award (2011) UW CSE William Chan Memorial Dissertation Award (2011) NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship (2007)
	Misc
	Google Scholar Page NCBI My Bibliograpy