Santa Clara strives to enhance diversity in STEM education by supporting students and faculty with different backgrounds, beliefs, and viewpoints. Jasmine Cashbaugh's graduate education at SCU exposed her to faculty members who encourage and support women and minorities to pursue careers in engineering. Cashbaugh is paying it forward to ensure the development of a diverse and talented STEM workforce that is critical to the local and global community.

Santa Clara empowers students to engage with the global community and improve the lives of those in need. SCU's Global Medical Brigades, led by senior Aliyah Morphis, were recently able to offer critical dental and educational programs in Nicaragua. SCU's dedication to the greater service of humanity enables students to learn and improve the world around them, both domestically and abroad.

Through collaboration, Santa Clara students and faculty are able to effectively produce solutions that are applicable to the real world problems. Manav Jaiswal, a gradate Computer Engineering student, won Best Paper Award for "Design and Implementation of Greener Home Automation System". With help from Dr. Ling and Dr. Liu, Jaiswal was able to apply the theories he has learned to practice.

Santa Clara embraces the intersection engineering practice and Jesuit ideals, promoting advances in service to humanity through student and faculty research. Fr. Guillermo Blason is currently enrolled in the graduate Frugal Innovation Certificate program and hopes to expand his knowledge of sustainable engineering through his work with Dr. Ashley Kim to create portable electrochemical sensors that test for arsenic in water. This project will be of benefit to SCU's sister school Universidad Católica de Córdoba, which works to provide clean water to the surrounding areas.

Santa Clara University encourages students to pursue a wholesome education and faculty to engage students in their work both inside and outside of class. Santa Clara adjunct faculty, Bob Schaffer, selected college students to work with younger financially in-need students at his program Elevate, which was created to bridge the achievement gap for students who are financially disadvantaged. SCU participants found the hands-on experience very impactful and rewarding as they applied their education to helping younger students.

Santa Clara University's faculty encourages students to use their gifts and talents for global engagement and service to humanity. Inspired by the late Professor Jim Reites, Santa Clara’s Engineers Without Borders chapter teamed up with Associate Dean Ruth Davis to design and build a roof tile press for a Rwandan village. The students bonded through sharing stories with local villagers, gained a deeper understanding of how they could meet the needs of others, and were reminded of their important responsibility to continue engaging with the global community.

One of the goals of Santa Clara's Leavey School of Business is to equip students to become job creators, not just job seekers. Drew Starbird, Director of My Own Business Institute and Professor of Operations Management & Information Systems, explains how students should learn how to create jobs for themselves and those in society, by infusing the traditional work world with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Santa Clara's faculty pushes students to the frontiers of knowledge and experimentation, challenging them to solve persistent problems. Dr. Zhang presented his students with the challenge of creating a noninvasive portable glucose monitor for less than $100, and many of them rose to the challenge by creating innovative products. Bioengineering students Casey Kiyohara '17 and Ciara Gonzales successfully developed a monitoring device that has the potential to bring comfort to millions of people around the world who need to test their glucose levels on a daily basis.

Santa Clara University encourages students to apply their education and knowledge toward building a more sustainable world. SCU Civil Engineering students teamed up to create this year's award-winning 238-square foot rEvolve House and lead in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District 2016 Tiny House Competition, winning first-place. The team members dedicated their house to the nonprofit, Operation Freedom Paws, and are proud to know their energy efficient product will make a difference in people's lives and inspire others to work toward a sustainable future.

Santa Clara strives to develop students who value diversity and apply their gifts towards greater service to humanity. SCU alumna Katie Fitzgerald '09 applied her studies in Theater and Spanish to start a small theater group for youth in Nicaragua. With enthusiastic support from professors, Fitzgerald plans to build the organization to be sustainable so Nicaraguans can maintain it on their own, and encourages students to expand their horizons and use their passions to serve others around the world.

Santa Clara University provides unique, hands-on experiences and opportunities for collaboration between faculty and students. The College of Arts and Sciences Digital Humanities Initiative brought together students and faculty colleagues from several departments to explore the impact digital technology has on archival research. The initiative allowed participants to explore cross-disciplinary approaches to traditional questions associated with humanities and the digital age.

SCU students experience a global education through immersion experiences and study abroad, and many of them carry habits of global outreach and engagement with them well after graduation. A trip to build a water system Rwanda in his senior year paved the way for Civil Engineering alumnus Scott Hanson ‘14 to put the knowledge and talents he built at Santa Clara to work as a volunteer for Conscious Impact. Today, he is helping to rebuild a school in a Nepalese village and modeling a life of competence, conscience, and compassion.

We promote a culture of service—not only to those who study and work at Santa Clara but also to disadvantaged members of our community as we work to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world. Students working with Professor Chris Bacon examined the harsh realities of hunger in Silicon Valley. Their efforts are helping to improve services that combat food insecurity in the region and providing hands on experience making a difference in the community.

A Santa Clara education gives students more than a degree—it engages them in experiences such as community-based coursework and independent research, empowering them to help find solutions to societal problems and effect change in the community. Santa Clara Law Professor David Ball uses his Criminal Law and Policy course to involve his students in impactful, practical research that tackles critical needs in legal reform. Students in Professor Ball's course are getting an early start on transforming the world for the better.

Santa Clara is committed to leaving the world a better place by shaping the next generation of leaders and global thinkers. Four recently awarded Fulbright fellowships exemplify this commitment and head abroad to expand their horizons and contribute to solving problems facing the world community.

Santa Clara University is deeply committed to building positive relationships with its neighbors and working in partnership with communities on projects that yield mutually beneficial outcomes A Thriving Neighbors Initiative workshop facilitated by Associate Professor of English Juan Velasco sparked an interest in writing that is helping a group of mothers in the Greater Washington neighborhood of San Jose to connect with their community and be “authors of their own lives.”

Santa Clara’s culture is entwined with Silicon Valley’s spirit of innovation and discovery. Hersh Shefrin, Mario L. Belotti Professor of Finance, embodies this spirit of innovation and a commitment to promoting active learning through his use of a game-based simulation to teach students pioneering behavioral finance. Dr. Shefrin’s self-created simulation is giving students hands-on experience with business decision making to prepare them for challenges they will encounter in their careers.

Santa Clara students and faculty pursue new technology, encourage creativity, and share an entrepreneurial mindset. Chris Kitts, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Robotic Systems Laboratory, explains how he grounds engineering education in these principles, preparing students to take on challenges and produce solutions to benefit society.