CSET Events and News
Events sponsored by Grand Canyon University (GCU) add richness and nuance to academic life. Gain greater knowledge in your field of study by attending the special on-campus events scheduled to help add greater depth to your education, and learn about the latest news at GCU and the accomplishments of our faculty. Check out what is new at the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
Accolades
At GCU, we think it is important to acknowledge the successes that our students, faculty and staff have achieved. Here are just a few of many accomplishments of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
Emily Branch worked under the direction of College of Science, Engineering and Technology biologists Drs. Daisy Savarirajan and Ramesh Velupillaimani, performing research on Sonoran Desert plants. The goal of her project was to see if extracts from certain plants had cancer-fighting health benefits. With this experience under her belt, as well as a GCU degree, Branch graduated with three job offers. The College congratulates Branch on her success! The Sonoran Desert plant project also continues with new GCU undergraduate researchers extending Branch’s work.
In a two day competition, Joshua Lee, Tom Fowler, Christian Taillon and Thomas Gleason won second place and received a $5,000 contract with Repay. These students were tasked with finding solutions for the manual data entry of surveys—a big problem for several non-profits who undergo that tedious process with little reward. These four CSET students developed an interactive web application where surveys could be turned into printable PDFs. Once completed, the surveys could be loaded back into the application where analytics could be produced. This team from GCU was one of 27 teams to compete.
Dr. Galyna Kufryk, a biology professor at GCU, presented her work at the First European Congress on Photosynthesis Research in Uppsala, Sweden. Kufryk’s work on photosynthetic activity of cyanobacterial strains led her to this congress. There she discussed the importance of understanding the photosynthetic capacity of cyanobacteria because of its environmental and biotechnological applications. The College of Science, Engineering and Technology is honored to have Dr. Kufryk impart her knowledge, work ethic and expertise at Grand Canyon University.
The GCU Cyber Team competed in their second competition, the Western Regional Cyber Defense Competition, and finished fourth. The team began competing just three months earlier and finished sixth in its first event. Albert Kelly, an associate professor in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology and the team's coach, said, "This is a remarkable feat for a brand new team."
While men still outnumber women in STEM fields, GCU is encouraging women to study in STEM programs and earn their degree in fields like engineering, computer science and information technology. Arizona CBS News featured a report in November 2016 about GCU's new STEM programs, with interviews from two College of Science, Engineering and Technology students. Rachel Wecker, a biomedical engineering major, explained that she chose her major because she loves math, she wants to develop new technologies and the pay in the field is good. Annaline Romero, a biomedical engineering major and president of the Women in Tech club, found her passion for STEM at a young age.
Intelligent.com has ranked GCU as one of the best computer programming degree programs in the nation. GCU earned the distinction of “Best Christian University” among the Top 34 computer programming degrees out of the over 300 programs that were assessed. The award highlighted the Bachelor of Science in Computer Programming online degree as one of the best in the nation.
Grand Canyon University has one of the best online cybersecurity programs in the nation, according to Intelligent. GCU was named as one of the Top 58 universities in the study, specifically highlighting GCU as the “Best Project Management Focus” among the over 360 schools that the study compared. GCU provides a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity, both of which use a project-based learning approach.