His research focuses on using video games to solve difficult scientific problems; he has delivered multiple TED talks on the topic. He is co-creator of the scientific discovery games Foldit and Nanocrafter and early math educational games including Refraction and Treefrog Treasure. He has also researched real-time animation for games, and has 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).