College of Science, Engineering and Technology

GCU’s Information x Technology Club, or IxT as it’s more popularly known, wants to illuminate basketball games and other big campus events, so came up with its Havocs blinky badge project. The club is in the process of producing these smart badges, which can receive a signal from a device that tells the badges to light up en masse.

Forget the Freshman 15. A new weight-gain worry is cropping up among adults called the Quarantine 15 — the weight that people have been gaining since they’ve been sheltering at home. But Dr. Zach Zeigler, Associate Professor in the Health Science Department of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, said the habits that are predictors for weight gain in this stressful time can be changed. His coronavirus weight-gain academic paper — he shares credits with six student researchers — was published recently by the journal Obesity Research & Clinical Practice.

The Technology Department continues to help build the nation’s cybersecurity community, thanks to a $100,000 grant awarded by the National Security Agency and National Science Foundation. The GenCyber grant will be used to support a free summer camp on the GCU campus in 2021 designed to help high school educators teach cybersecurity. “We’re in trouble if we’re not creating the next generation,” said Dr. Heather Monthie, Associate Dean of Technology in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.

John Varkey was in Dr. Melissa Trombley’s Science of Solid Materials class when he had an epiphany: He wants to help advance the field of quantum computing, in which researchers are working on building ultra computers. The recent Electrical Engineering graduate will continue on his academic path as a student and research assistant at The Graduate School at the University of Notre Dame.

There is one overarching factor in how GCU administrators and faculty are judged: Did their students get good jobs after graduation? It is the true meaning behind the University’s “Find your purpose” slogan. “It’s the passion to serve our students that our faculty and staff have,” Provost Dr. Hank Radda said, “which makes them willing to dive in, shepherd and advise students toward their ultimate career goal.”

Parents have been known to tell their college-age children that getting a degree is no game. But for one group of friends at GCU, a game proved to be a fun way to celebrate their graduation. They created a virtual Commencement for their avatars in the popular video game “Animal Crossing,” then livestreamed the ceremony so friends and family could celebrate right along with them.

The College of Science, Engineering and Technology Research Symposium and Honors Showcase made a quick transition to online when the COVID-19 precautions were put in place. “For a tight three-week timeline, I think our administration, faculty and students did an incredible job bringing their work to life in a virtual manner,” said Breanna Naegeli, Honors College Associate Dean.

From remote graduation parties to a graduation ceremony on Zoom to a social-distance-minded graduation dinner al fresco from a parking lot across from a Texas Roadhouse, GCU’s Lopes found a way to celebrate even though they couldn’t be together on campus for Commencement.

To some, making face masks out of unused T-shirts might seem like a simple task. It’s not. The Canyon Promotions team had to use considerable ingenuity to adapt its machines and by last week had the project fully up and running. Similarly, the College of Science, Engineering and Technology quickly figured out a way to make face shields in its 3-D printers.

Tool kits, volt meters and broken equipment aren’t exactly the kind of gifts students expect to receive for graduation. But they were the presents Electrical Engineering Technology Assistant Professor Ed Koeneman gave the students in his Electrical Troubleshooting and Maintenance class. COVID-19 and stay-at-home protocols didn’t stop the class from their final assignments, including troubleshooting and repairing broken equipment from home — repairs they shared with classmates via video conferencing app Zoom.