Gibson was hired to oversee the Rochester Athenæum and Mechanics Institute (now Rochester Institute of Technology) in June 1910 by the then board of directors which included George Eastman. He instituted the Institute's Cooperative education program in 1912, as part of his focus on industrial education. The program required students to study half time and to work half time in shops at Eastman Kodak, Gleason Works, and the German American Button Company.
