Dr. Gordon received her PhD in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993.  Her thesis focused on the efficient production of picosecond x-ray pulses from high-density laser-produced plasmas, and included construction of a terawatt ultrashort-pulse laser system.  At Sandia, she initially worked with the BART system to develop train control strategies to improve system reliability and efficiency.  Her familiarity with subways then led to involvement in protection of such facilities from the chem/bio terrorist threat.