Biography
Nick Hardman is a principal research engineer in the Colorado Springs Field Office of Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Hardman retired from the US Air Force after a tour as the director of the Unmanned Aerial Systems Center and associate professor at the USAF Academy. In prior military assignments, he served as a senior program manager at the Air Force’s Technical Exploitation of National Capabilities office (AF TENCAP), a fellow with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and an exchange officer in the Spanish National Aeronautics and Space Administration (INTA). He was also deployed as the Joint Combat Assessment Team (JCAT) lead in northern Afghanistan. He served as the lead engineer and a flight test aircrew member on numerous developmental programs in addition to his role as the chief systems engineer for the C-5 modernization program. Hardman earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering, a M.S. in Aviation Systems, and a Doctorate in Systems Engineering. He is the author of eight peer-reviewed international conference papers, two periodical articles, and three journal papers. He is a commercial pilot for both manned and unmanned aircraft and a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. He also flew test missions in more than 30 U.S. and NATO aircraft. Hardman is also a CSEP (Certified Systems Engineering Professional) and PMP.