Colleges

Before there was Peter Pan, before there was Tinkerbell, before there was Captain Hook, there was “Peter and the Starcatcher.” GCU’s Theatre Department is bringing the origin story of the boy who refused to grow up to the Ethington Theatre stage. The play opens tonight for a two-weekend run.

“Why is There a Robot in My Operating Room?” We’re not sure why, either. But high school students found out why on Health Sciences, Engineering and Technology Day, where they learned about biomedical engineering (the reason there’s a robot in your operating room), discovered “The Unseen but SHOCKING World of Engineering,” stopped by a suture station, toured the cadaver and DNA labs and more. More than 950 high school students attended HSET Day Wednesday on the GCU campus.

The November issue of GCU Magazine, available digitally here, explains in detail how the University’s Christian worldview governs its approach to teaching science. Senior writer Lana Sweeten-Shults’ in-depth report includes two other stories, on a virtual-reality project students are doing to bring the Bible to life and on students’ responses to an end-of-course survey asking how GCU’s integration of faith and science affected their personal faith. Other stories in this issue include inside looks at a growing trend in the Worship Arts program, basketball star Alessandro Lever’s improbable transition from Italy to GCU, the popularity of the new esports facility in the Technology Building, and how the College of Humanities and Social Sciences helped a student earn and then prosper in a major New York internship. 

Michelle Robinson, Character Look Development Supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Studios, provided an inside look at the making of “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and other Disney animated films during a talk Tuesday at Ethington Theatre. As one student put it, “I’m just so inspired by them.”

By Lana Sweeten-Shults GCU Magazine Grand Canyon University biomedical engineering junior Gabriela Calhoun wanted to do more than just deep-dive into a typical anatomy project for her undergraduate research. She wanted to move mountains. “I said, ‘Let’s do something more.’ We have so much potential as engineers and STEM students to make an impact. So why don’t we?” Calhoun’s biotechnology undergraduate research group found the “more” they were searching for when one of the students in the group started painting a picture of what his mother, a nurse in Rwanda, sees daily. She had told him about amputee after amputee in her care. It was a problem that resonated with the undergraduate researchers. The team learned that a small cut would lead to an infection and eventually the amputation of a finger or a hand, a foot or a leg. They wondered, could they engineer a better bandage to prevent infection? Could they save someone from losing a limb because of something as treatable as a minor cut? Could they change the course of someone’s life? “It was really important for us to find something we were all passionate about, which was when we came to wound care. The point […]

GCU Magazine Biology professor Dr. Daisy Savarirajan asked students in an end-of-course survey about the impact of faith-science integration on their personal faith. Here are a few of the answers: “I feel that, as a Christian school, it is very comforting to know that GCU does not object to integrating its Christian worldview into its curriculum. I feel this is especially important for a science course, like this class specifically. As a basic science course, I feel that it is very important to have a biblical foundation, as this course will provide a baseline for future science courses. I can also appreciate the fact that a prayer was said before most classes. This is something that does not happen in most schools and is very comforting to see here at GCU. Overall, I found the integration of faith and Scripture into the course to be an excellent idea and very beneficial for me personally all throughout the entire semester.” **** “This course showed me how God and science go together. There was a time where I felt like I lost my faith. And since, right now, we are learning about all the diseases, it reminded me of how I started […]

GCU Computer Science students are adding a modern twist to the Bible by using virtual reality to bring some of its most famous stories to life.

Albert Einstein introduced a whole new game in physics with his general theory of relativity, proposing new concepts of space and time. He imagined the existence of gravitational waves rippling through the fabric of space and time and saw black holes as bottomless pits of such gravitational intensity that not even light could escape from them. His concept about gravitational waves is something he said existed, but he didn’t think it could be proved. Then in 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected two black holes colliding 1.3 billion light years away, confirming Einstein’s theory about gravitational waves. Amber Strunk spoke about the engineering marvel that is LIGO recently to students in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.

In the shadow of Veterans Day, GCU’s Wind Ensemble will perform a hero-themed concert called “Summon the Heroes,” featuring works that celebrate heroes of all kinds, from those who served in World War II to riders of the Pony Express and 18th-century fur trappers and traders. The concert, to be presented at 7 p.m. Tuesday at First Southern Baptist Church of Phoenix, also will mark the debut of the Black Canyon Chamber Winds.

It was a serendipitous moment when Jerry Colangelo dialed Nathan Johnson’s number, granting his wish for $5,000 in physical education equipment for his students at Westwood Elementary. Colangelo is connected to GCU as a benefactor whose name graces the Colangelo College of Business, and Johnson is a GCU alumnus. The Lopes were also involved in the Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers initiative as sponsors and as wish granters, and Dr. Kimberly LaPrade, the Dean of the College of Education, selected the names of three lucky teachers from the large red plastic apple.