Bio
Lt Col Tyler Hardy is an Instructor in the Department of Physics and Meteorology at the US Air Force Academy. Lt Col Hardy was commissioned in 2009 through the Air Force ROTC program. He has an undergraduate electrical engineering and physics degree from the University of St. Thomas, and graduate degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) and Army Command and General Staff College.
After receiving his master’s in electrical engineering from AFIT, Lt Col Hardy served as an operational test engineer working on F-35 operational test. Lt Col Hardy was then selected to attend AFIT in residence for his PhD where he focused on space domain awareness and detection theory. After completing his degree, he was assigned to the Air Force Research Labs (AFRL) Directed Energy directorate where he served in research, program management, and technical leadership positions. Lt Col Hardy was next selected for and served as the AFRL Headquarters executive officer. Additionally, Lt Col Hardy served as the program manager for the Resilient Embedded GPS/INS program. Lt Col Hardy then attended the Army Command and General Staff College in residence. In his previous assignment Lt Col Hardy served as the Program Element Monitor for a variety of Air Force Research Laboratory programs and deployed as the over-the-horizon counterterrorism director of regional engagements.
Education
Master of Operational Studies, Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (2021)
Doctor of Philosophy, Electrical Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Wright-Patterson AFB (2016)
Master of Science Electrical Engineering, AFIT, Wright-Patterson AFB (2011)
Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering, Univ of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota (2009)
Bachelor of Arts Physics, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota – 2009
Professional Experience
Instructor, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Spring, CO (2023-Present)
Transformational Component Program Element Monitor (PEM), Counter Directed Energy Weapons PEM, SAF/AQR, Pentagon, Washington D.C (2021-2023)
Advanced Positioning Navigation and Timing Program Manager, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (2019-2020)
Executive Officer to AFRL Commander, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (2018-2019)
Chief, Research Section & Advanced Optics Program Manager, Starfire Optical Range, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM (2016-2018)
Operational Test Engineer, 31 Test & Evaluation Squadron, Edwards AFB, California (2011-2013)
Honors & Awards
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Force Commendation Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Distinguished Graduate, Army Command and General Staff College
Research and Scholarly Interests
Space domain awareness
Beam control and adaptive optics
Detection theory and signal processing
Publications
Hardy, Tyler, Stephen Cain, and Travis Blake. “Unequal a priori probability multiple hypothesis testing in space domain awareness with the space surveillance telescope.” Applied Optics 55, no. 15 (2016): 4036- 4046.
Hardy, Tyler, Stephen Cain, Jae Jeon, and Travis Blake. “Improving space domain awareness through unequal-cost multiple hypothesis testing in the space surveillance telescope.” Applied Optics 54, no. 17 (2015): 5481-5494.
Hardy, Tyler J., and Stephen C. Cain. “Investigating prior probabilities in a multiple hypothesis test for use in space domain awareness.” SPIE Defense+ Security. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2016.
Hardy, Tyler J., and Stephen C. Cain. “Characterizing point spread function (psf) fluctuations to improve resident space object detection (rso).” SPIE Defense+ Security. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2015.
Scott, Amber, T. J. Hardy, Richard K. Martin, and Ryan W. Thomas. “What are the roles of electronic and cyber warfare in cognitive radio security?” In 2011 IEEE 54th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS), pp. 1-4. IEEE, 2011.