Continuing graduate studies at Penn State, he earned a Civil Engineer degree in 1907.

[1] In 1917, Gotwals was sent to France in command of a special unit of students from the Washington, D.C. Bliss School of Electricity, tasked with teaching the use of searchlights.

Gotwals was raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was in 1922 awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for his work there.

[5] On July 21, 1930, he was appointed as the Corps of Engineers representative on the three-person Board of Commissioners in charge of the District of Columbia; he served until August 22, 1934.

[6] Gotwals was ill for much of his term and was replaced in 1934 due to his impending retirement for health reasons.