Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program

It is in MIT’s rich, innovative, and inventive tradition of engineering leadership that the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program (GEL) operates. Housed in MIT’s School of Engineering, the program provides an integrated set of leadership-oriented, discipline-building, hands-on engineering activities, set in the context of the practice of engineering, designed to develop outstanding MIT students as disciplined, future leaders in the world of engineering practice.
A selective program for MIT engineering students, the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program provides a major, national model for the development of next-generation technical leaders (not necessarily entrepreneurs) who are equipped to understand and address significant engineering problems in real-world situations.
The Gordon Engineering Leadership program features two years: MIT undergraduate students enter the program through the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program (UPOP) or through experience on an engineering project in an industrial or academic setting. The first year of the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program is open to a competitively chosen cohort of MIT undergraduates committed to honing their engineering leadership skills.
For a cohort of Gordon Engineering Leaders (GELs) who successfully complete the first year program requirements and elect to advance, the program’s second year offers an array of intensely personalized leadership development activities featuring a high degree of interaction with industry leaders, faculty and fellow students.
Launched through a $20 million gift by the Gordon Foundation—the largest gift made to MIT’s School of Engineering for curriculum development—the program aims to create new approaches to prepare students for engineering leadership and to ensure MIT continues to lead the nation in developing effective engineering leaders.