College of Science, Engineering and Technology

Little did GCU’s Robotics Club members know what competing at a recent event would lead to. Not only did the Thunderbots bring home the Judges’ Award from the VEX Robotics World Championship in the spring in Louisville, Ky., they also received certificates of participation from Guinness World Records. The event recently was certified as the world’s largest robotics competition.

GCU is always evolving, with new buildings rising up and offices and colleges moving to new spaces. All the change makes for an interesting first-day of class. The GCU News team fanned out on Monday to talk to students, professors and even the Success Patrol and Academic Career Excellence Centers, who there there to make sure students found their classrooms.

In the Technology Building, students played games via the glow of computers powered by tons of RAM and sharp graphics. Meanwhile, across campus, gaming took on a different look at the Modern Board Gamers Guild’s Game Night, where old-school tabletop board games was the call of the day. Either way, students networked and connected with each other during Welcome Week through high-tech and old-school gaming.

GCU eSports is roaring into its new clubhouse this week after winning a 16-team, invitation only Overwatch tournament. Club President Justen Johns says the new facility on the second floor of the Technology Building is three times the size of the old Thunder Alley room. The club is hosting an internet cafe during welcome week so interested students can come see what all the hype is about. “I think the bond that we have is more than just the game. We’ve grown as friends and we are probably going to be friends for the rest of our lives, hopefully, so it was really luck that this club brought us together,” Johns said.

It was just a few months ago that Grand Canyon University Honors College biology student Adesuwa Osayaren won the title of Miss Africa Arizona. Now she can tout one more title — she was crowned the Miss Nations of the World queen.

You wouldn’t normally expect to find onesies, high-heeled shoes or Burt’s Bees at a college retail store, but you will find those things peppered among the notebooks, binders and a sea of purple T-shirts at the new Lope Shop. The store, which touts Champion and Nike concept areas, a tech area, boutique and more, opened Wednesday at its new 9,500-square-foot space on the Promenade. With its floor-to-ceiling glass display windows and modern, open feel, it’s a far cry different from its much smaller space — only one-fifth as big — on Lopes Way.

For the second consecutive year, GCU made the top 10 of Niche’s Best College Campuses list, scoring a No. 7 ranking (up from No. 8 last year) for its college life — and the accolades don’t end there. The University also is No. 6 on the Best Dorms in America list and No. 7 in Best Online Colleges.

GCU News Bureau Faculty and students from Grand Canyon University‘s College of Science, Engineering and Technology spoke about desert plants, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and more at the American Scientific Affiliation national conference July 26-30 in Wenham, Mass. The annual meeting featured distinguished guest speakers such as Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, noted for his landmark leadership of the Human Genome Project, as well as noteworthy scientists, theologians, business delegates and students from various countries. The conference highlighted the theme “Bioethics and Biotechnology” and included the following CSET contributions: — Dr. Daisy Savarirajan presented a poster on “Microbiology Through the Lens of the Bible: Antimicrobial Products From Sonoran Desert Plants.” She also was an early career track speaker on “Don’t Leave Undergrad Without It: Wisdom for Thriving in Science” that concluded with a speed mentoring session for undergraduate students. — With GCU-ASA being declared  the largest chapter in the nation, Savarirajan and Zachary Merhavy were invited to participate in the “Local Chapters Seminar” and share their experiences about successful initiation and sustenance of local chapters. — Dr. Ramesh Velupillaimani presented his research work in collaboration with Arizona State University on “God’s Solar Cells: Light-Harvesting Role of β-carotene […]

With computing jobs in such high demand, it’s hard to find and keep skilled computer science teachers, said Corinne Araza, GCU’s Director of STEM Outreach and Program Development. It’s why the recent Code.org courses on the GCU campus were so important. About 90 educators from around Arizona gave up part of their summer to enrich their computer science knowledge, thanks to a partnership between GCU, Code.org and Science Foundation Arizona.

GCU News Bureau College of Science, Engineering and Technology Professor Dr. Ramesh Velupillaimani presented his research findings this summer at the First European Congress on Photosynthesis Research, ePS-1 A Marcus Wallenberg Symposium, in Uppsala, Sweden. His research involved an ultrafast spectroscopic approach to study how green alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), a miniature marvel, captures and converts solar energy into chemical energy. The ultimate goal of this research is the production of fuel directly from the energy of the sun, through natural or artificial photosynthesis, to help meet the world’s energy requirements. During the conference, Velupillaimani visited the homes of two world-famous scientists: Linnaeus Garden and Museum in Uppsala, where Carl Linnaeus lived and worked for almost 50 years — he developed the system for classifying and naming all living things; and the Mendel Museum of Masaryk University at Brno, Czech Republic, home of Gregor Mendel, who was an ordained priest and is known as the “Father of Genetics.”