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Kooijmans, who came aboard in April to fill the
newly created position of engineering program
manager.
One of Sheller’s favorite features is a fourth-floor
gallery/student hangout created in collaboration
with the College of Fine Arts and Production. Large
monitors will display student art and design work,
mobiles will hang from the ceiling and paintings
on the walls. Add to this lounge furniture and
piped-in music.
How innovative are the new facilities? Compared
with engineering programs at other teaching
universities, Sheller believes that GCU’s stands out,
and the new wing is one reason why. “It will put us in
the top tier,” he said.
It’s bigger and better and in a new location
on the first floor of Building 1’s north-south
wing. Designed by and for GCU students, the
“makerspace lab,” as it is called, has projectors
and a large Makerbot 3-D printer as well as
CNC/Laser cutting and etching, programming,
and electronic component creation.
“It’s given us freedom to expand our
capabilities,” said Christian Clifton, a Lopes
Lab student worker who spends hours in the
lab and whose enthusiasm is contagious.
He spoke glowingly of the Team Innovation
Experience, co-taught by engineering and
CCOB. Students create concept models
and prototypes in labs while learning about
business in lectures, he said.
The engineering shops — one of the
highlights of the shiny new space — will be
finished before January. They are located on
the natural-light bathed first floor, which has
soaring ceilings and hallway windows that
allow passersby to peek inside.
Wooden welcomes the wing’s spaciousness.
It will add 33 more offices and meeting places,
which will come in handy for the 15 additional
CSET faculty and staff that were hired this
year to accommodate the college’s increasing
popularity.
Seven of the new employees were hired for
the engineering program, including Cheryl
Lopes Lab highlights:
• An engineering materials
lab on the second floor is
equipped with an atomic force
microscope, which can chart
the surface of a silicon wafer.
• An engineering power lab will
allow students to experiment
with generating and
distributing electricity to GCU.
As part of this, solar panels will
be connected and installed on
the lawn outside, Sheller said.
• A physics electromagnetic
lab will feature an antenna
and involve transmitting
signals with waves containing
magnetic fields.
Engineering shop
highlights:
• Sheet metal working, with
a machining center, milling
machine, lathe, plasma cutter
and 3D printer.
• Woodworking shop, with saws,
drills and hand tools.
• Finishing shop, with paint booth,
sand blaster and hand tools.