College of Science, Engineering and Technology

What a year, and not in a good way for most people. But GCU didn’t back off when the pandemic struck, and its staff and students kept finding ways to be the light in a dark COVID world. As President Brian Mueller said, “We’ve got to adapt but keep moving forward,” and that’s exactly what happened. Here are 10 stories that showed that movement.

Photos by Mathew McGraw GCU News Bureau Graduates of the Colangelo College of Business, College of Nursing and Health Care Professions, and College of Science, Engineering and Technology participated in the Saturday afternoon ceremony at Winter Commencement.  

Nearly 5,000 ground students decided to stay home this semester and study online because of the pandemic. But like the faculty members who also chose to work from home, they were able to use the LoudCloud learning management system and video conferencing/messaging apps such as Zoom and Loom to make it an effective learning environment.

GCU’s Technology faculty plugged into the fall with two virtual events. The first, “Hacking a Cybersecurity Career Path,” was part of the Provost Speaker Series and connected students with chief information security officers from PetSmart, Choice Hotels International, CSAA Insurance Group and WebPT. Also, Rob Loy, Director of Non-Degree Technology Programs, and Associate Professor Glenda Dilts presented “Teaching an Agile Mindset” at the recent Agile Arizona conference, speaking about the work GCU has done to embed Agile tools and concepts into its programs.

It wasn’t long ago that Christian Clifton and Kylie Shaplin were GCU students listening to lectures, working in the engineering labs and sitting in on career talks. But recently, the alumni — Clifton graduated in 2019 and Shaplin in 2020 — found themselves in an unexpected position. Instead of listening to industry panelists, they WERE the industry panelists at a recent talk by Benchmark engineers, and this time students were listening to them.

Dr. Samantha Russell, Assistant Professor and Electrical Engineering Program Lead for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, was there right at the start when GCU began its engineering program, and she takes delight in developing students into professionals who will be leaders in that rapidly changing field. Find out what she likes to do in her spare time and the real story behind where she grew up.

Students Inspiring Students received a tremendous boost this year when The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation pledged $500,000 to the full-tuition scholarship program over the next five years. (The first Parsons Scholars are scheduled to be named this month.) It was another important step for a program that isn’t just producing college graduates from GCU’s neighborhood — it’s turning out people who, like the Parsons grant, will make an impact for years to come. Reprinted from the November issue of GCU Magazine.

The pandemic put a damper on clinicals, internships and other real-life experiences for GCU’s pre-health students. But that didn’t stop pre-med/biology junior Alyssa Deyo from creating NERD Hours, which connects students virtually to physicians, medical students and others in the health fields.

When the bachelor of science degree programs in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering earned ABET’s prestigious accreditation this year, the timing was serendipitous for two recent GCU graduates. Edward Lon was hired as a software engineer by Raytheon Missiles & Defense, and Denisse Delos Santos was promoted to the engineer program by SRP. Reprinted from the November issue of GCU Magazine.

The Canyon Challenge will be on livestream only this semester because of the pandemic, but that isn’t the only noticeable change: For the first time, it will feature a high school competition. Also significant is the fact that two of the five GCU finalists are not business majors. It will be available for viewing at 4 p.m. Friday.