PEDERSON, PERRY

Salt Lake City, UT

Children: Andrew and Roberto

After high school, I entered military service for the Washington National Guard as an infantry man (along with Greg Stoner and a few other home boys). In ‘74 I entered the regular Army and was trained as motion picture photographer and served a three year enlistment at Dugway Proving Ground, UT. During my tour of duty at Dugway, I got married and had two boys, Andrew and Roberto. I completed an AS degree from Weber State College in ‘81. In ‘96 I completed a BS degree in Business Information Systems from the University of Phoenix. In that same year I was selected to attend the Army Management Staff College and I currently enrolled in an MBA program with an emphasis in Technology Management at University of Phoenix. My civilian career started at Dugway Proving Ground as a GS-7 Scientific & Technical Photographer in ‘80.
From ‘80 to ‘89 I held several positions within the Optical Data Branch there, culminating in a position as Chief Data Assessment with over a dozen Performance, Special Act and Suggestion Awards. I then took a position as a Computer Specialist from ‘89-‘91 receiving two more Performance Awards and the Department of the Army Achievement Medal. I was selected for my current position, GS-13 Physical Scientist, in ‘91 and have worked for four different Technical Directors.

I am currently a Project Manager for several major initiatives at Dugway, the Virtual Proving Ground supporting the testing and training needs of our Nations response to domestic acts of terrorism using chemical and biological weapons, and a Project Management Information System. I have been the only person to hold the position of the Office of Research and Technology Applications there Dugway Proving Ground since Dugway was first designed as a laboratory for the purpose of Technology Transfer. As such I negotiate cooperative research and development agreements with academia, private sector films and State and local government.

From ‘89-‘95 I owned a small town convenience store that was a combination gas station, café, grocery store and trailer park. I kept my full time job while other family members ran the store during most days, it was a lot of hard work with long days but I found it very rewarding. I have learned many things over the years and I hope to continue learning for the rest of my life. But the one thing that I hope to always remember is just how precious time with my family and friends is. I look forward to seeing all of you there.