Gordon Smith Email & Phone Number

Bowling Green, Ky, Us

Nashville, Tennessee, Us

• Manage a core team of creative mechanical engineers, interfacing with a diverse range of departments (Engineering, Creative, Soft Goods, Assembly, Sculpting, etc)• Contribute to internal and external client project plans from conception through prototyping/limited production (typically $250k-$5M, 6-24months duration)• Develop opportunities for departmental training and cross-training to minimize single points of failure within departmental capabilities.• Coordinate internal and external resources to optimize time and efforts• Serve as a primary contact for customersKey Accomplishments:• Researched and drafted building-wide process map, identifying relationships between 19 distinct functional departments• Implemented scheduling strategy to recover a complex, multifaceted project that had stalled, improving company relationships with client as well as team morale• Developed standard processes for team to unify design strategies and provide greater efficiency throughout the company operations.

Gallatin, Tn, Us

Refocusing a career-track, much less finding a full-time position during a global pandemic, is an ambitious goal. Having a wider-than-normal range and depth of skills, and a narrower-than-normal geographic range doesn't help either. However, I thrive on challenge. While finding opportunities and taking interviews looking for that win-win fit, I also pursued projects to ensure income and maintain skills while also focusing on my family.Key accomplishments:Covered adjunct courses in physics and engineering for colleges and universities• Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College• Austin Peay University• Volunteer State Community CollegeProvided informal guidance and advice to former colleagues• Confirmed loading calculations for truss and crane structures• Defined appropriate parameters for capability studies• Contributed to testing protocols for chemical coating system• Simplified CAD approach for modeling

Bowling Green, Ky, Us

Teaching duties:• Statics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, and Freshman Design Seminar. • Routinely responsible for ~25% of student credit hours generated in a 7-faculty mechanical engineering program• Repeatedly nominated by students for Outstanding Teaching awardsSupervised student capstone design projects:• Plant centrifuge. Provided increased gravity environment for investigating its impact on plant growth and other aspects • Industrial Exhaust Testbed. Laboratory scale analogue for exploring opportunities in waste heat. • Radio Telescope Base. A two-axis structure capable of supporting a radio telescope dish• Mentored independent student research projects (FDM tensile strength testing, water filtration approaches, small-scale vacuum chamber) Pre-engineering partnership:• Established a formal pre-engineering pathway for technical college students seeking entry into the WKU engineering program• Developed and executed an MOU between WKU and Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College (SKYCTC, part of the statewide community college system)• Provided guidance to SKYCTC regarding necessary course components and laboratory facilities Safety training: • Developed updated training plan to ensure safety for all entering engineering students• Worked with comparable programs, EHS constituents, and program faculty to ensure sufficient due-diligence compliance• Created supporting documentation and video scripts for training.• Designed an online support system using Blackboard to automate data collection.• Proposed future growth opportunities (i.e., integrating student ID data to eventually control access to restricted areas).

Bowling Green, Ky, Us

Teaching duties include Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Deformable Solids courses. Additional activities include: promoting interactive teaching tools for the department, overseeing student design projects, developing paths to success for engineering students from KCTCS and other community colleges, providing support to ongoing departmental activities.

As a private consultant, I enjoy the opportunity to contribute to a variety of problems faced by private industry and government offices. Services include:• Scientific Analysis -structural analysis, physical modeling of complex systems, energy models, patent editing, data collection and analysis.• Strategic Analysis - business plan development - timeline and budget proposals, state-of-the-industry studies, competition analyses, distilling complex technical presentations to approachable essences.• Product Development and Launch – concept development, functional modeling, inter-discipline liaison, prototyping, vendor sourcing.• Process Refinement – optimizing machine throughput, alternative approaches, multidisciplinary integration.Representative Projects:• Proposal for adjusting the industrial base model applied to manned orbital spaceflight• Briefing congressional staff on biofuel opportunities, and advantages to be drawn from symbiotic relationships with parallel industries• Exploring acoustic applications to the problem of dust removal• Developing an intuitive quality management system for Nonconformance Management, Corrective and Preventative Actions, Preventative Maintenance, and Gage Calibration• Providing technical and operational recommendations for K-12 maker space. Helped clarify their vague needs into specific requirements, sourced equipment, established budget.• Defining a nonprofit model for K12 education in economically challenged communities

Teaching duties include algebra-based and calculus-based General Physics, Astronomy, and supporting Math courses. Other duties include: renewing outdated courses, manufacturing demonstration and educational equipment, mentoring students pursuing science and engineering interests, providing support to ongoing departmental activities.Developed Advising Aid for AA/AS Degrees:• Reduced advising effort from hours to minutes on a per-student basis, resulting in hundreds of man-hours saved over the course of AA/AS advising per year.• Provided forward-looking transfer equivalency estimations to WKU. Developed Industry Education Courses:• Tailored campus course material to needs of employees.• Worked with industry partners to identify training needs for employees.• Developed company course in statistical process control (SPC) to improve line performance.• Developed training to improve process recording from R&D teams.

Primary duties included developing the company’s proprietary technology to commercial viability as well as oversee prototype development for a growing client base. Managed $200k project wind energy project from concept through wind tunnel studies:• Developed a modular concept that met aesthetic requirements, as well as transportation requirements• Applied for a provisional patent surrounding design• Fabricated a 1:35 scale wind tunnel prototype• Oversaw CFD studies to refine the aerodynamic performanceGrew Research and Development Department to Support Company Growth:• Traveled to foster strategic and client partnerships in the fields of mechanical, electrical, and aerospace engineering. • Worked closely with the Vice President of Sales and Vice President of Manufacturing to architect operational plans to encourage the company’s successful growth.• Provided technical confidence to clients as needed to close sales

Managed $750k wind energy project from concept to completed prototypes: • Defined the fundamental engineering requirements and created models to predict performance.• Completed CAD descriptions of the components• Developed appropriate sensor interfaces.Managed $30k wind tunnel validation study from concept to completion:• Defined CAD for a 1:10 scale model of a Savonius-style wind turbine.• Worked with outside agencies to interface the test unit with their facilities.• Validated novel mathematical models for performance evaluation.Grew Research and Development Department to Support Company Growth:• Developed engineering interns into cohesive, creative team of full-time employees.• Provided technical confidence to clients as needed to close sales.

Bowling Green, Ky, Us

Teaching duties include algebra-based and calculus-based General Physics, Applications of Modern Physics, and Advanced Optics. Other duties include: renewing outdated courses, manufacturing demonstration and educational equipment, overseeing undergraduate students for research experiences, providing support to ongoing departmental activities.

Boone, Nc, Us

Appointed for one-year term to replace faculty member on leave-of-absence. Teaching duties included Stellar Astronomy and calculus-based General Physics. Oversaw students in various research projects.

Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, Us

Appointed for one-year term to replace faculty member on leave-of-absence. Teaching duties included Stellar Astronomy and calculus-based General Physics. Organized and managed first annual HSC Kludge Competition. Oversaw students in the design and construction of recumbent tricycles. Restructured and added to existing astronomy laboratories.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Physics

Master Of Arts (M.A.), Physics

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Physics