SANDBOX WITH PAIL & SHOVEL (Photo: ClassicStock/Getty Images). gettyUniversities don't have to wonder how they will fit in the esports ecosystem. Some schools are focusing on the launch of an esports team. Others are working to develop the next generation workers that will grow and expand the gaming and esports industries.University of Maryland (UMD) is one of many higher education institutions that have poured resources behind their gaming initiatives. In 2019, The Brendan Iribe Center of Computer Science and Engineering was opened. Brendan Iribe was a UMD student from 1997-1998. He then left to pursue a career in video games. He co-founded Oculus, a virtual reality company, after years of experience. Facebook purchased Oculus for $2 billion in 2014. Iribe is one of the pioneers who are giving back to the community that sparked their interest in this space to allow the next generation to thrive.Galen Stetsyuk (UMD) and Mikhail Sorokin (UMD), have both benefited from Iribe Center. They met at school. Stetsyuk said that it was more than just the Iribe donation, which ignited my passion for Virtual Reality (VR). Brendan Iribe gave us the opportunity to meet other people, and we were able to build a network that allowed us to access the resources and equipment needed to launch M-PLEX, a multiplayer VR combat tank video game. The team has raised $1.2million in two rounds of fund raising to date.The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), founded in 2013, has its own incubator space, MAGIC. This university-wide research center focuses on media, art, games, interaction and creativity. Richard DeMartino (RITs Director of Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) said that one thing distinguishes us from others is that MAGIC, a university-wide research center with a focus on media, arts, interaction, and creativity, was established in 2013. DeMartino said that the school is one of the most established COOP educational schools in America. Game development is very popular these days.Harry McCardell and Ben Garvey, co-owners at Great Lake Gaming (GLG), a company that hosts virtual and in-person gaming events across the country, saw MAGIC to be their sandbox for creativity. Garvey said that although I went to RIT to study coding it wasn't in my plans. He decided to change his major to game design, which saved me my college career.Garvey follows in the footsteps of another RIT graduate, who nearly didn't graduate, but returned to RIT to give $50 million. This was just one week after his startup, Datto, a data protection company, was sold to Vista Equity Partners, for $1.5 billion. Garvey says that this donation allowed me to take a GAP Year to launch GLG. We now have five interns from RIT and the opening our first physical space in Downtown Rochester (NY).Drexel University is another tech-focused institute that is focused on keeping local startups in business. Their Entrepreneurship Game Studio (EGS), which is based in Pennsylvania, was founded by a $200,000 grant from Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Dr. Frank Lee is the director of EGS. He believes that he can set up a mini factory where Drexel can mentor students and help them develop their game companies. This would allow Drexel to stay in Eastern PA and build a hub for the game industry. We believe the game studio will help develop an entrepreneurial mindset that is transferable and useful in the future workplace.Gaming and esports will continue to be a part of higher education, no matter what institution it is. U.S.-based schools continue to push the boundaries in gaming by creating a space for students to fail quickly and then move on with their ideas.
