Things are progressing well here at NNU as we build our new mission-focused engineering program.  Everything in the program, including the senior capstone project, is centered around a Christian missional and humanitarian focus.  

We have a growing group of highly motivated students who are enjoying getting directly involved in building both their engineering careers and the Lord's kingdom.  Our first freshman class of mechanical and electrical engineers are getting a taste of building their AutoCAD and SolidWorks designed projects using NNU's cool Dimension 3-D plastic printer (see the video on our web page) as well as our brand new Haas CNC Mill which just arrived last month.

Allow me to tell you about some other student projects:

Competitive robotics team: A group of students, led by Paulo Salvador (Brazil),  are organizing a competitive robotics team and will attend the regional IEEE competition in April.  

Extreme Nazarene Team: Three seniors are working alongside an NNU graduate now working for Extreme Nazarene to engineer the first “LEGO” Styrofoam block church in the Amazon rainforest. 

Team Super-Hydro: Team Super-Hydro, comprised of sophomores and juniors, will fly on NASA’s famous "Vomit Comet" zero-gravity aircraft the first week of April.  Only nine teams from across the U.S. were chosen for this year's NASA SEED program. Dr. Parke and Dr. Lawrence will be traveling with this six student team led by Weston Patrick (Wasilla, Ala.).  While down in Houston, the team will be hosted by former Space Shuttle astronaut Dr. Rick Hieb, who is a graduate of NNU's program. Be sure to check out their blog. 

Our new engineering program has also formed an industry/alumni advisory board of prominent NNU engineering alums from across the U.S. to guide the development of our program and to provide hiring and internship opportunities for NNU graduates.  They will have their first meeting at NNU on April 15.  We are also in the process of hiring a new mechanical engineering professor to begin this fall.  

We’re so excited you are interested in Northwest Nazarene University, and we hope to meet you soon.

Dr. Stephen Parke