Housed in the Kimmel School of Construction Management and Technology, the Rapid Center is focused on education and applied research. The center’s mission is to serve Western North Carolina by forming effective partnerships to grow the region’s economy, assisting in generating value-creating jobs and improving quality of life for the region’s residents.

Gardner’s background made him a natural for the position, said Phillip Sanger, center director. “His knowledge of technology, as well as his ability to deal with the business end of a new product, make him the perfect fit for this job,” Sanger said. “He brings to the job a wealth of experience.”

One of Gardner’s first projects is refining a process that uses three-dimensional technology to scan feet and create models to make orthopedic inserts for people with podiatric trouble, such as individuals who have diabetes or foot and ankle problems. While orthotics are not new, the method is. Gardner is conducting the project with a $10,000 grant from the Carolina Photonics Consortium, and will attempt to transition the process to podiatry and orthopedic clinics. “It’s not a huge project but I think it has some huge potential for the region,” he said.

Gardner holds doctoral and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, with an emphasis on physics. He retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel after 25 years of active-duty service, where his responsibilities included research, development, acquisition and testing of aircraft control systems, munitions guidance, electro-optical sensors, and chemical, biological, radiological and explosives detectors.

Prior to coming to WCU, he was chief scientist for detection and countermeasures for General Dynamics Corp. There he directed a team of chemists, biologists and engineers in the development of chemical, biological and explosive systems, as well as infrared threat detection and counterexplosives.

Gardner has past school affiliations including teaching and advising at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as well as serving on the Optoelectronics Center board of advisers; serving on the Central Piedmont Community College advisory board for engineering technology; teaching at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Saint Leo University and the Air Force Institute of Technology; and advising the University of Dayton’s graduate program in laser radar technology. Widely published, he founded the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives Sensing Conference, part of the annual International Society of Optical Engineering Defense and Security Symposium, which draws more than 6,000 attendees.