Lopes Live Labs (L3s) at Grand Canyon University

Grand Canyon University is dedicated to preparing its students for a career by providing a variety of teaching experiences. We offer many opportunities with hands-on education from knowledgeable professors that help current students gain practical skills, making themselves more marketable to future employers.

In partnership with each of our college deans, we have developed a unique designation for this learning environment, which we call Lopes Live Labs (L3s). These applied learning labs represent on-campus locations where students can gain access to industry opportunities and experience their education coming to life.

At GCU, we’re here to help you find your purpose, and our L3s are a great way for you to delve into as many interests as you desire. Get hands-on experience that can help you acquire practical knowledge for your future career and explore career paths that align with your passions.

While each of our colleges at GCU host L3s specific to the degree programs they offer, L3s are open to all GCU enrolled students regardless of the college degree program they are enrolled in. We encourage enrolled students to take any L3s of interest and offer all students the opportunity to explore any area of curiosity and gain experience in multiple capacities.

These L3s are a great place to start getting involved and gaining experience. Discover the L3s GCU has to offer based on what you're interested in!

Ad Agency

The Ad Agency can help prepare students for potential careers in advertising and marketing by offering them hands-on experience in an agency setting. Students can work with real clients on projects in every marketing discipline including social media, graphic design, copywriting, event planning and more.

AR/VR Lab

This lab can provide students with the opportunity to delve into the realm of virtual and augmented reality technologies, such as Microsoft HoloLens and Meta (Oculus) Quest, as well as smart glasses. An array of supporting technologies, such as 3D printers, microcontrollers and single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, are available for student use. These resources can potentially open up many possibilities for students to create innovative applications and projects. Students may have an opportunity to collaborate with industry leaders on projects and gain practical experience in the field.

BioMed Device Development

The BioMed Device Development labs concentrate on empowering undergraduate students to work on innovative research. The BioMed Device Development labs research anything from the development of point of care sensors to wearable devices and innovative biomedical manufacturing.

Black Box Theatre

In the Black Box Theatre, students can bring their creativity by staging an experimental play, filming a music video or conducting a photo shoot. We supply the lights, audio and projector. Consider joining GCU’s comedy improv troupe, the Cantalopes, or audition for our touring theatre company, Parables, who rehearse in the Black Box.

Cadaver Labs

GCU has multiple human anatomy labs and cadavers within our science building where students can gain hands-on experience in their anatomy lab courses. Students can also join the Mastering Anatomy program, which allows them to fully dissect a cadaver over the course of a few years.

Canyon Angels

Canyon Angels is a group of accredited investors in the state of Arizona. These successful business owners now invest in businesses around the world with the direct help of our business students.

Canyon Ventures

Canyon Ventures offers GCU students opportunities to work for start up business ventures in a variety of positions in marketing, sales, development and more. This gives students the ability to gain industry experience that may align directly with their education.

Cyber Center of Excellence

The Cyber Center of Excellence (CCE) provides students with the opportunity to combine apprenticeship with practical experiences to develop competence and skill. Based on a "hackers with halos" code of conduct combined with technical controls, the CCE is a place where participants can think like a hacker without breaking laws or compromising fundamental ethical principles.

Engineering Shops

The Engineering Shops are a large, open makerspace housing industry-grade equipment such as a CNC plasma cutter, welding center, sheet metal fabrication center and woodshop. From personal hobby projects to large-scale team or club projects, students have access to this lab from their first day at GCU until the day they graduate.

Esports Arena

Esports comes alive in our expanded and energetic Esports Arena. Students can put their skills to the test and try out for different varsity and junior varsity teams or join community nights with console gaming including Nintendo Switches, Xbox One and PS4. Our competitive programs compete against teams nationwide in hopes of becoming the best program in the country.

Ethington Theatre

The theatre department features two open shop spaces and a performance venue where students can be a part of making magic happen — including welding, carpentry, costume design and construction, sound engineering, hair and makeup design, lighting design, special effects and stage management. Students are involved at every level of production, such as learning modern techniques utilizing industry standard technologies and equipment. GCU students may develop proficiencies that are needed on a global scale in a wide variety of industries where communicating and storytelling through technology is vital.

Film Equipment Cage

The Film Equipment Cage offers equipment rentals during the school year to students. The equipment ranges from cameras and lights to audio recorders and support rigs. To rent equipment, students must be registered in a Digital Film production course and use the equipment to produce work for that class.

GCU Golf Course

The GCU Golf Course offers beautiful greens, an expansive clubhouse, fully equipped Lope Pro Shop and event space. The Golf Course and Lope House Restaurant currently employs GCU student workers in various positions and is incorporated into our Hospitality Management program.

GCU Recording Lab

The GCU Recording Lab is a maker-space for content creators to produce audio recordings well-suited for video editing. The Lab features four sound isolation rooms (WhisperRooms™) of varying sizes. Students may book time in the facility using online reservation software after going through an online orientation and receiving credentialing that equips them to use the space autonomously. Alongside the WhisperRooms™, the lab offers computers with audio recording and video editing software, audio interfaces, a fully stocked mic selection, headphones, stands and all necessary cables.

Lopes for Literacy Multicultural Library

The Lopes for Literacy Multicultural Library within the College of Education can serve as a place where faculty and students gather to review pre-K-12 literature, discuss best practices for literacy instruction, and record literacy lessons that celebrate our differences and similarities.

LopesCloud

LopesCloud is an innovative cloud-based platform at GCU that empowers students across diverse programs by granting them seamless access to virtual lab environments. No longer burdened by tedious software downloads and configurations on personal devices, students can now immerse themselves directly into their coursework with LopesCloud, leveraging virtual machines equipped with essential lab tools. Whether they’re studying on campus or from the comfort of their homes, the cloud can help ensure accessibility and convenience. This forward-thinking approach can not only enhance learning but also help students prepare for challenges, reinforcing GCU’s commitment to practical hands-on education.

Lopes Broadcast Lab

The Lopes Broadcast Lab provides audio and video equipment for students in media-based programs to collaborate and ultimately produce multimedia products for a wide-range of GCU audiences. Primarily developed for professional writing, broadcasting and social media students, the shared facilities, equipment and supervision of students allow for the delivery of media-based projects for class requirements and professional platforms.

Nursing Immersive Simulations

In the clinical portion of the ABSN pre-licensure program, nursing students can participate in immersive simulation experiences as part of their clinical requirements. Simulation scenarios are performed within the immersive simulation suites and can provide students with experiences that can help them build their clinical reasoning and clinical judgment skills.

Post Production Lab

The Post Production Lab provides students access to powerful computers and the latest creation and editing programs to generate high resolution videos and visual effects. Digital film courses incorporate the Post Production Lab to assist in teaching students job ready, technical and creative skills. Additionally, students can join the Digital Film Club and Women in Film Club to develop their filmmaking craft while making connections within the industry and with their peers.

Recital Hall

Musicians can perform their junior and senior recitals or host a worship night. Filmmakers can reserve this space to screen their projects. The recital hall offers 100 seats for you and your audience.

Schwab Finance Center

In April 2021, the Colangelo College of Business opened its finance lab, which features Bloomberg terminals. These terminals are used as an investor lab to teach finance courses and access real-time Wall Street information. We're proud to add this lab to our tradition of teaching an industry-developed, hands-on education.

Social Media Lab

The Social Media Lab is a digital maker space for students to create content for delivery across multiple social media platforms and video channels. Photography, interviews, podcasts, audio recording and video editing can all happen within these professional quality workstations.