College of Science, Engineering and Technology

A panel of “Amazonians” on Wednesday gave GCU students a peek into life at Amazon, the “earth’s most customer-centric company,” as part of the Provost Speakers Series in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. CSET is among several colleges at GCU that partner with Strategic Employer Initiatives and Internships to offer the Provost Speaker Series. The group of mostly software development and front-end engineers also shared their path to Amazon along with insights into the company’s unique culture and how students might also work there.

Three crosses rose on the GCU campus recently just before students return after a summer of national challenges. The crosses symbolize hope in difficult times and a faith that is front and center at GCU. The beautiful location just outside GCU Arena and flanking the Academic Administration Building will become a contemplative location, marking an idea launched by students last year and constructed by students over the summer.

In just one year, the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s new Nutritional Sciences program has grown to include almost 100 students, and the college is anticipating that growth to continue. It will open a new Nutritional Sciences Lab this fall and added a new faculty lead in Courtney Baker, who worked for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health before starting her new job at GCU.

Deborah Haralson, IT and IT/cyber faculty lead, wore virtual pink hair and asked students to fill out an online poll about the RAM on their computers. Mechanical Engineering Technology instructor Dina Higgins hit play on her first “Safety Minute” segment. College of Education Assistant Professor Dr. Brandon Juarez started class with a prayer and said he would help students look into how they can become great classroom teachers. Professors and students navigated the first day of class online in the COVID-19 world while looking forward to Sept. 28, when they’ll see each other in person for the first day of on-campus instruction. “While not under the best circumstances, it was a great first day overall,” said technology student Alex Schaeffer.

Phoenix has become a hub for technology, IT and software companies in the last decade, so much so that publications have pondered whether it is becoming the next Silicon Valley. Wrapped in all that technology is an interest in artificial intelligence — a subject Dr. Dwight Farris, an instructor in IT and Cybersecurity in GCU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology, knows a lot about. He will be one of the thought leaders featured in the latest AZ TechTalk, a virtual event, beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8.

GCU wanted to go where the jobs were, which is why it opened the College of Science, Engineering and Technology in 2014. Today, the college is announcing that four of its programs have been accredited by ABET, including the bachelor’s degree program in Computer Science and the bachelor’s degree programs in Biomedical, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. It’s a prestigious distinction that assures employers that GCU’s students are meeting a quality standard. “They know that these students are prepared for industry,” said Dr. Janet Brelin-Fornari, Associate Dean of Engineering. Fifth in a nine-part series spotlighting each GCU college as the fall semester begins.

Spending days, even weeks, installing software and configuring their computers so they could start their assignments didn’t bode well for GCU’s technology students. So the Technology Department partnered with Grand Canyon Education’s IT Department to come up with a solution: LopesCloud. Much like Google Docs, the cloud-based web application allows the campus’ technology students to access their projects from anywhere on any device. “GCU is really dedicated to making sure the students have the best tools possible,” said Al Kelly, the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s program lead in cybersecurity, “and that’s what LopesCloud brings.”

Leo Quintero was always the go-to computer guy at his high school and brought those skills with him as a student at GCU, where he was the Latino Student Union President, Diversity Awareness Coordinator for the Associated Students of GCU and a member of the IT Help Desk. Now he’s the go-to LopesCloud guy in the University’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology. As the Cloud Support Coordinator/Specialist, he coordinates projects between faculty and Grand Canyon Education’s IT Department when it comes to a powerful, new tool that’s helping technology students: LopesCloud.

Daniela Barrera spent more than a few of her winter breaks working alongside her mom in the agricultural fields around Yuma, where she grew up. So when the GCU Biology/Pre-Med alumna would hear her high school teachers talk to students about becoming an engineer or an architect or a graphic designer, those careers seemed unreachable to her — until now. Barrera recently was accepted into medical school at Midwestern University’s Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. … Just to see the difference it can make,” she said.

Weighing less than 3 ounces and standing at just 7 inches tall when fully grown, the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl is one of Arizona’s tiny treasures. But less than 100 of these lilliputian owls are thought to exist in the state today, which is why conservationists are working hard to increase their numbers. A GCU Research and Design Program team has re-engineered a nest box to replicate where these owls nest in the wild — in saguaro cactuses — in hopes of improving the desert creatures’ hatch rates in captivity.