Clovis Community College mourns sudden death of engineering professor Gurinder Khaira

Clovis Community College is facing a loss that reaches far beyond one classroom. Gurinder Khaira, the engineering professor who helped steer the school’s Engineering Renaissance Club into a national robotics title, died unexpectedly on May 13 at age 39, leaving behind his wife and three children.

The college said Khaira died of a sudden heart attack. A GoFundMe set up for his family says he was the sole provider at home and that donations will help cover funeral costs, daily living expenses and future needs for the children. Kim E. Armstrong, who has led Clovis Community College since Jan. 3, 2023, publicly offered condolences as the campus absorbed news that has rippled through students, faculty and the local Punjabi community.

What makes Khaira’s death especially significant for Fresno County is the practical role he played in building a path from community college into technical careers. Clovis Community College serves more than 13,000 students each year, many of them looking for a direct route into engineering, manufacturing and advanced technology jobs. Students in the Engineering Renaissance Club said Khaira was more than an instructor: he coached, encouraged and advocated for them inside the school, opening doors that might otherwise have stayed closed.

That club had become one of the clearest examples of the college’s workforce pipeline in action. Its mission is to promote excellence in STEM and higher education while showcasing Clovis Community College internationally. The group’s biggest achievement came in 2024, when its team Crush Depth won first place in the MATE ROV Pioneer Class World Championship in Kingsport, Tennessee. The college’s own account described the club as applying classroom engineering to hands-on work in underwater robotics, debris removal and rescue and recovery operations.

Khaira’s influence was also measurable in the club’s growth. A fundraiser for the team said the 2024 championship squad had just 10 students, and that the club has since expanded to more than 90 active students. The same fundraiser said the club still needed about $10,000 to finish travel plans and cover manufacturing, prototyping and testing costs, underscoring how much of the program depended on faculty support, continuity and mentoring.

Khaira was still being honored publicly in a 2026 commencement program, which included him in an In Loving Memory tribute and identified him as professor of engineering and advisor to the Engineering Renaissance Club. For students trying to move from a Central Valley classroom into engineering careers, his death created a gap in both instruction and leadership that will be hard to replace.