Darrel Baumgardner is a 1967 graduate of Gainesville High School and the administrator of the GIFT scholarship. Darrel is a graduate of Georgia Tech with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He received his doctorate in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Wyoming and was a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado for 20 years, professor at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico for 14 years, founded Droplet Measurement Technologies in 1987 and is currently the Chief Scientist there