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When he began his freshman year, Gordon paid a visit to FIU'S Career Services office and, as a result of that visit, he secured a co-op learning opportunity with NASA. He's been there ever since. While he was in College, Gordon went to his job at Cape Canaveral in between semesters. There, he worked as a financial advisor on projects that included developing earned value management models for NASA laboratories, compiling and validating job labor charges, and leading an IT audit of his department's assets. With rocket scientists and NASA engineers for co-workers, Gordon continually was challenged to perform. "Being at NASA meant I was exposed to high-tech engineering work that business folks don't normally see," Gordon said of his experience. "My mentors and co-workers were by far the most intelligent people I had ever met, and I am still in awe at the ease with which they solve complex problems."
"Through them and through my job, I learned a great deal about engineering, and, more importantly, was exposed to some high-level thinking," Gordon said. But the best part about this job, Gordon said, was that his assignments at NASA added a valuable dimension to his educational experience at FIU. "Many times I saw the application of business theories BEFORE I 'learned' them in school- so that school, at times, became more of a review of material I had already worked on," he said. He added that he also learned textbook concepts he later was able to apply at work. For more information about the NASA co-op, please visit its web site.
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He added that his roommates and friends there were all engineers, tackling projects like developing/testing insulation material for potential manned Mars missions, testing electrical systems for the Space Station, developing systems for testing explosive propulsion chemicals, working on the actual fleet of space shuttles and launch pads, and giving the final "go/no go" for launch. 