SGC Keynote Speaker: Timothy Rodabaugh of Ball Aerospace

Timothy Rodabaugh is a software engineer with more than 20 years of experience working on various software systems for the US Department of Defense. Tim has spent the last 11 years working for the Air Force Research Laboratory in the Gaming Research Integration for Learning Laboratory (GRILL), serving as the lead engineer. He is also one of the keynote speakers at the 2023 Shawnee Game Conference.

“From a very young age, I was fascinated with computers and video games,” said Tim. “I grew up in the 80s with a Commodore 64. I had to learn how to use it in order to enable my desire to play. So, I always knew I wanted to work with computers. I was lucky to get some good jobs and internships in high school doing tech support and computer repair.”

Tim quickly turned his love of gaming and tech into a career in computer science.

“I knew it would be a good career choice. But it has exceeded my expectations. I again had good internships in college and did a variety of things from web programming, to work with the military doing databases, weapon systems targeting, satellites, and more.”

Almost 12 years ago, Tim took a job at Ball Aerospace and started working in their research labs with live virtual simulation. His lab creates training and simulation programs used by the Department of Defense and active military personnel.

“I can virtualize trainings and mix live entities with virtual ones…it’s rich and robust and can be distributed across the globe. It’s almost like a giant multiplayer videogame. I like the jobs I had before, but now I’ve really found my calling.”

Tim grew up playing early online multiplayer games like Quake. Now, he and his lab are looking at commercial off the shelf game tech (such as game engines like United 3D and Unreal Engine) to apply for use in the military domain.

“We believe that this is the future of modeling, simulation, and training for the Department of Defense and the military.”

Tim will be giving his keynote address, entitled ‘Using Game Technology for Military Modeling and Simulation’, on Friday, March 10th at Noon at the VRCFA main stage.

“This talk will be about the overlap between the game design major and the modeling and simulation career paths,” said Tim. “This is just another way to use all that training and all those transferable skills…and you can stay local in Ohio and still have a career.”

Tickets for the 2023 Shawnee Game Conference are still available.