It’s a peaceful Friday morning in Rohr Science at Point Loma Nazarene University. It’s summer, so the halls that are normally bustling with activity are eerily silent. But hidden away in the back of the building are two students working away at their laptops, surrounded by equipment most students can’t comprehend. Their names are Vivyan Gripp (27) and Ella Klindt (27), and they’re quietly advancing the world of engineering.
Both students committed to PLNU as mechanical engineering majors. Although Vivyan and Ella didn’t meet until the beginning of their freshman year, they were both given tours by the same admissions counselor during high school, and felt the same calling from God to pursue a career in STEM.
“Getting to Point Loma was definitely a God thing.”
“Getting to Point Loma was definitely a God thing,” Vivyan said. “Sometimes I question how I’m here because of how far I’ve come, but God led me to Point Loma. I was looking at UCSD and some of the other local colleges here, but one day, with some family from up north, we came across Point Loma, and decided to take a look. I just fell in love with it on one very short visit.”
While Vivyan didn’t find out about PLNU until she was a teenager, Ella had been familiar with the school since she was young. Several of her parents’ friends are alumni, and they encouraged her to attend. Once she found out about PLNU’s small class sizes, she knew it was a school where she could find belonging.
After they spent three years working toward their degrees, Anthony Cortez, Ph.D., professor of physics and engineering, offered them internships at PLNU in partnership with the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC). What was in store for them was beyond what they could imagine.
While Ella has been focusing on studying 2D materials and their properties, Vivyan has been working with a device called a dilution refrigerator — a cryogenic system that is able to cool devices to millikelvin temperatures. Her job is to create an interface that can smooth the communication between various quantum control systems and the experiments being conducted with them.
Ella explained a quantum computer by likening it to the supercomputer seen in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures.” Although quantum computers themselves are massive, the chips are small and are able to make huge calculations in a small amount of time. Currently, the U.S. and China are in a race to lead the world in quantum research.
Most days, Vivyan works on PLNU’s campus, coding and working on this quantum material. But for Ella, she spends most of her time on the NIWC base, using their equipment for her research.
“There’s a lot more equipment to be used over there,” Ella said. “[It’s] been really nice to learn about the different aspects of [the] equipment that we don’t have [on campus]. It’s been really nice, and getting to be around a lot of the professionals over there has really helped my experience as well. … And if I need help, I can go ask someone that knows a lot more than I do.”
For both Ella and Vivyan, they’re able to attend events hosted by NIWC that have helped them connect with professionals in the engineering field.
“I was just at an event yesterday where I met someone directly connected to my project,” Vivyan reflected. “I got to talk with a bunch of his physicist buddies and his co-workers. It’s so incredible to hear [about] their projects — they’re so beyond the realm of almost what you think is possible. Coming from an engineering point of view, it’s just mind-blowing.”
Another exciting aspect of the internship for Vivyan and Ella is the fact that they’re able to work on a military base. NIWC is highly competitive to get into, and since both students come from military families, they said it’s been significant to them to get experience in the defense industry.
“With my engineering, I’ve always wanted to work on important projects,” Vivyan said. “Not that the small projects aren’t important — they’re very important. But being able to work at NIWC has been eye-opening. This is an important mission. It’s [been] such a unique opportunity and such an incredible blessing to be able to be part of that mission at all.”
Ella echoed Vivyan, reflecting on how significant this project has been to her.
“Being able to see that me going to Point Loma helped me get this opportunity has been so impactful,” Ella said. “Getting internships is so hard, especially in engineering in San Diego. … It’s been a blessing getting to continue engineering. Being so close to graduation, it’s great.”
“Being able to see that me going to Point Loma helped me get this opportunity has been so impactful.”
Ella said that she’s always seen herself getting involved with the military, but for Vivyan, she said working with NIWC has helped her consider what her future might look like.
“I didn’t really know if I wanted to do the military or defense course,” Vivyan said. “But now I’m heavily considering it because of this internship.”
Looking back on their time at PLNU so far, both students said that getting to know the professors who helped them get their internships have been the highlight of their time at PLNU.
“I personally have had time getting to know Dr. Cortez, since he’s our mentor this summer, and I’ve also TA’d for him for Intro to Engineering for the past two years,” Ella said. “It’s been really cool working alongside him and getting to know a lot of his experience as well, and getting in the TA sphere and getting to teach alongside him. I’ve always had a passion [for] teaching.”
As Vivyan and Ella look forward to graduating in spring 2027, Ella is hoping her work with NIWIC will lead to a future career — though she’s also open to opportunities in teaching. Vivyan said that, although she isn’t looking to teach right now, she hopes to give back to the Point Loma community in some way.
“[PLNU] has been such a blessing, and it has strengthened my faith so much.” Vivyan said.
