Honoring Engineering Leaders

North­eastern Uni­ver­sity yes­terday unveiled the Bernard M. Gordon Tribute to Engi­neering Lead­er­ship, a high-​​tech inter­ac­tive archway in the center of campus hon­oring engi­neering leaders, including its name­sake, an inno­vator and North­eastern benefactor.

Located between the Egan Research Center and Snell Engi­neering Center, the Gordon Archway uses lights and graphics to honor 10 ground­breaking engi­neers. These include Gordon, sev­eral North­eastern trustees and bene­fac­tors, and inno­va­tors like Dean Kamen and Sey­mour Cray, said Simon Pitts, director of the Gordon Engi­neering Lead­er­ship Pro­gram.

Gordon, con­sid­ered to be the father of the high-​​speed, analog-​​to-​​digital con­ver­sions that make much of today’s modern life pos­sible, donated $20 mil­lion to North­eastern in 2006 to launch the Gordon Engi­neering Lead­er­ship Pro­gram, which seeks to iden­tify and pre­pare the next gen­er­a­tion of engi­neering leaders. The archway, ded­i­cated to Gordon, aims to inspire even more with the life sto­ries of pro­lific engi­neering pio­neers and leaders.

The pro­gram and Gordon’s ongoing sup­port to the uni­ver­sity “helps secure Northeastern’s posi­tion at the fore­front of engi­neering lead­er­ship and edu­ca­tion,” said Provost Stephen W. Director, who spoke during a ribbon cut­ting cer­e­mony held Thursday afternoon.

Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun said that Gordon, who was unable to attend the cer­e­mony, wanted the archway to achieve one simple goal: show­case engi­neers and leaders who changed the world.

“And now, you can be inter­acting here with engi­neers, like Bernie, who really have changed the world,” Aoun said.

The pres­i­dent said he had just returned from a trip to Sil­icon Valley, where an alumnus who now works at Google told him the industry must always stay on top of the latest trends because missing them can be the death knell for innovators.

“What we are doing here is hon­oring people who are not afraid to inno­vate. We are hon­oring people who are not afraid of missing trends,” he said,” because they set the trends.”

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Related Departments:Gordon Engineering Leadership Program