Engineering student racks up the awards

In the late 1990s, Benjamin Gordon saw the Mars Explorer Rover Mission on television.

Gordon… In the late 1990s, Benjamin Gordon saw the Mars Explorer Rover Mission on television.

Gordon was amazed by the pictures of the rovers, he said, and wanted to be responsible for something like that.

He found out that engineers constructed the rovers for the mission and knew he wanted to be an engineer.

“I saw the pictures of the mission and looked up the major on the Internet that allowed me to do that,” Gordon said.

Today, after winning a number of awards and scholarships and earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Pitt in December 2007, Gordon is now pursuing his doctorate in the Swanson School’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.

Gordon won the 2007 inaugural George Washington Prize, a $5,000 scholarship that is awarded to one senior engineering student at Pitt.

But for Gordon, 27, these accolades didn’t come easily.

He grew up in Chicago, came from a poor black community and knew success would be difficult to achieve.

“I didn’t have a lot of good things in front of me,” Gordon said. “I knew I would have to work hard.”

Most of Gordon’s motivation comes from his competitive personality and his desire to be the best at everything he does.

Gordon also said because of his African-American background, he feels he has to work twice as hard as the average white person to get fair opportunities.

Sen. Barack Obama faces the same type of prejudice as a candidate in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Gordon said.

“If Obama wasn’t more outstanding than Clinton and McCain,” Gordon said, “some people wouldn’t even give him a second look.”

Like Obama, Gordon wanted to give back to his community by mentoring students facing similar prejudices.

He advised students through programs such as Upward Bound and the National Society of Black Engineers.

The main goals of NSBE are community outreach, professional development and networking.

Not only did Gordon mentor students through NSBE, he also held a chair in the organization.

“I was able to see good relationships develop between upper and lower classmen,” Gordon said. “The president of NSBE is now a sophomore – that wouldn’t have happened before.”

Because of his interest in helping students, Gordon said his peers and professors suggested that he become a high school teacher.

But Gordon was also passionate about his research, so he chose to become a professor.

During his sophomore year, Gordon began his undergraduate research specifically in thermoacoustics , the process that works to convert sound energy into heat energy.

Now, Gordon’s research focuses on carbon sequestration, which deals with the intake and output of carbon.

He is looking specifically at carbon sequestration to design more environmentally friendly turbo machinery that is used in power plants.

Ultimately, Gordon wishes to develop a fully renewable energy source.

“I want to create an unending energy source that doesn’t use scarce sources, something without an adverse environment impact,” he said. He doesn’t believe he is better than anyone else, Gordan said, but he knows he earned his achievements.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “There are a lot of smart, intelligent engineers at Pitt just as capable if they would’ve taken opportunities like I did.”

Gordon wants to teach this type of work ethic to his future students.

“Along with fundamental principles, I want to teach them life lessons,” he said. “I hope they can just get an overall positive impact.”

Though engineering is the career path Gordon chose – he’s interested in many other things, especially different cultures and how they relate to that of the United States.

“I love looking at the similarities and differences between cultures,” Gordon said. “I want to understand and respect all of their differences like it’s the same as mine.”

But Gordon is no typical engineer, he said. “Even though I’m an engineer, I’m also a very outgoing person and a huge conversationalist,” Gordon said.

And he has some advice to pass on to fellow college students: “Refuse to settle for anything less than you’re worth.”