Center for Rapid Product Realization
Director
Phone: 828-227-2435
Email: pgardner@wcu.edu
Office Address: Belk 270
Education:
- Ph.D., Air Force Institute of Technology
- M.S., Air Force Institute of Technology
- B.S., University of Florida
He is a retired Colonel, U.S. Air Force, with 25 years of active-duty service where he led research, development, acquisition and test of aircraft control systems, munitions guidance, electro-optical sensors, directed energy systems and chemical, biological, radiological, and explosives detectors.
From 1999-2003 Dr. Gardner was assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command as a liaison officer for both the Air Force and the U.S. Dept. of Energy. He represented 10 Air Force labs and 14 National labs, providing rapid response technology solutions to meet urgent fielding needs for Special Operations. He served on multiple defense decision panels, including the Joint Science & Technology Panel for Chemical & Biological Defense and the Joint DOD/DOE Munitions Panel.
In 2003 Dr. Gardner joined General Dynamics Corporation as Chief Scientist for Detection and Countermeasures. He led a team of program managers, engineers and scientists in the research, development and manufacture of chemical, biological and explosives detection systems; chemical and biological countermeasures and decontamination systems; and infrared threat detection and countermeasures systems.
In 2007 Dr. Gardner joined Western Carolina University, Center for Rapid Product Realization, as Principal Scientist where he leads the development, productization, and commercialization of intellectual property for a diverse set of technologies and markets. He also holds the position of Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Kimmel School, Department of Engineering & Technology.