Energy Research, Policy and Campus Sustainability

About Us

John F. Gardner, Associate Vice President

Dr. Gardner, currently a professor in Boise State’s Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering, has responsibility for coordinating the university’s environmental stewardship and sustainability efforts. He is also responsible for coordinating and promoting university research related to sustainability and coordinating outreach to state agencies and citizens related to sustainability and energy.

John joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Boise State in July of 2000. He served as chairman of the department from 2001 to July 2007. He also served a brief stint as acting dean of the College of Engineering in 2003 and acting chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for seven months in 2003 and 2004. Before coming to Boise State in 2000, Gardner served as an associate and assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and as professor-in-charge of mechanical engineering undergraduate programs at Penn State University. In addition to his doctorate from Ohio State, Gardner has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State, a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cleveland State University, and is a registered professional engineer in both Idaho and Pennsylvania.

Todd A. Haynes, Energy Systems & Research Engineer

In the fall of 2007 Todd A. Haynes began his current assignment working as an Energy Systems & Research Engineer in Boise State’s newly formed Office of Energy Research, Policy and Campus Sustainability. Todd has been working actively on the development of Boise State’s wind energy research programs since he was an undergraduate student in 2002. In 2004 Todd became a graduate research assistant working on a wind-energy seed-grant from the Idaho State Board of Education. In the summer of 2006 Todd was hired to be a researcher and project manager for an ongoing wind energy research grant funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Todd enrolled in mechanical engineering classes at Boise State University in 1998 with the goal of helping to reduce costs for solar, wind and other renewable energy systems. Since then, he has earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering. Along the way, he squeezed in a drive from Boise to the tip of South America; purchased a windfarm with 4 partners; and worked as a consulting engineer on the world’s first commercial wind-to-hydrogen plant.

Todd grew up in Northern California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After earning a degree in Journalism from San Jose State University in 1990, he worked for 10 years as a real estate appraiser in California and Idaho. While appraising, he inspected several off-grid houses in remote locations that used photovoltaic solar systems to charge large, expensive battery packs. This struck a chord, and he began asking “why doesn’t everyone generate their own electricity?” After a bit of investigation the answer was simply that the systems cost too much. He knew then that he wanted to work towards making renewable energy systems more affordable.

Sara Shultz, Administrative Assistant II

Sara graduted from Boise State University in 1998, with a degree in Political Science. Sara joined Boise State University in March of 2008.