UCCS engineering professor advances professional framework beyond the numbers

President’s Inclusive Excellence Award Winner

The thought of “engineering” might immediately suggest cold, hard numbers and formulas rather than human warmth. And while the field necessarily emphasizes technical competencies, Peter Gorder, Ph.D., has built a programmatic framework that also emphasizes empathy, cultural awareness, teamwork and community engagement as essential engineering skills.

Gorder is professor and chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at UCCS. He also is director of the Senior Design Program, which he designed, expanded and has led for more than 25 years. He emphasizes that engineering is inherently a team activity. Students must learn to listen, communicate across their differences and recognize the dignity and needs of the communities they serve.

Gorder’s leadership extends beyond UCCS. Universities across the United States, Europe and Africa have partnered with him or expressed interest in adopting the program model he developed. Recent projects with international partners have included outdoor rec space for children with disabilities in Poland and working with the local population in Uganda to devise a system to obtain freshwater from a nearby lake.

Gorder works to make sure that students understand the local context before they even begin thinking about solutions alongside the local community members. He teaches students to think critically and compassionately about the communities they enter, guiding them away from a mindset of merely “helping” toward one rooted in understanding and partnership.

Gorder is one of five 2026 President’s Inclusive Excellence Award Winners.