Wayne Mackey

Wayne Mackey is the founder and CEO of Statespace. This platform combines neuroscience, artificial intelligence and video games to improve cognitive function and motor skills. Statespace grew from 30 to 130 employees in one year, partnered with game publishers like Riot and Ubisoft, and its first product, Aim Lab, has over 40 million users. Mackey has since broadened the mission and grown the platform toward improving cognitive and motor skills using video games.

Mackey’s scientific work focuses on how the brain supports flexible behavior and decision-making. He’s published several peer-reviewed articles on human cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities. His most recent work focuses on creating a new computational framework for short-term memory in humans and machines. He’s also done research collaborations with Mount Sinai, the University of Indiana, the University of Delaware and other institutions to look into Statespace technology applications in childhood movement disorders, traumatic brain injuries and stroke.

A lifelong gamer and self-proclaimed terrible student, Mackey credits video games for opening up a path to a college education and his scientific career. For this reason, Mackey’s a proponent of early STEM initiatives. He’s been recognized in Forbes Magazine for bringing esports and computers to underprivileged schools to help increase diversity in tech, has committed $500,000 in esports scholarships for STEM, and has worked closely with Gamers Outreach to fund programs that provide video games to children in long-term hospital care.

Mackey has won multiple awards and fellowships from various institutions, including the National Science Foundation, New York University and the Simons Foundation. He’s also on the advisory board of the Statespace-funded Queer Women of Esports Mentorship Program. Mackey holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Temple University and a PhD in cognition and perception from New York University.