Erik Bard

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May 6, 2021 @ 18:45 EDT
Meet Erik Bard — Plasma Physicist & Principal Investigator at Skinwalker Ranch, His Career and Net Worth

Erik Christopher Bard is a plasma physicist from Lehi, Utah, known for his role as the principal investigator of the ever-so-mysterious Skinwalker Ranch. Among the many previously unrecognized people involved in running the property, Bard is also brought into the spotlight with The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, which did quite fine among a handful of viewers.

Like most of the cast members of History Channel’s newer reality show, Bard is also quite shy of social media, despite being a man of science and technology. Regardless, there are a few places his works have been recognized throughout his career.

Erik Bard's Resume Is Pretty Intensive and Begins from Well Back in the '90s

Erik Bard enrolled in Transylvania University in the late '80s with a Thomas Jefferson full scholarship in Physics and move on to the University of Kentucky in 1989 two years later, denying the continuation at his former college. While majoring in Physics there (and minoring in mathematics), he immediately started working as a process engineer at IBM until 1993.

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch cast with Erik Bard in the back and center.Bard doesn't stand out, but he's been on the ranch ever since Fugal bought it.
Photo Source: Brandon Fugal, Twitter

After leaving his work at IBM in 1993, Bard mentions in his LinkedIn profile that he went to Eastern Europe during the post-Soviet era for two years before returning to work for Lexmark in 1995 as an associate engineer involved in the printing technology industry. After staying at Lexmark for just about a year, he went back to school at Brigham Young University in 1997 to get his degree in Plasma Physics.

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The physicist's area of expertise has a lot to do with charged particles, having already worked for electrophotography R&D at IBM, and his focus at BYU was the unusual behavior in the motion of charged particles confined at cyclotron orbital resonance with the electromagnetic cavity modes of a Penning trap. He got his master's degree in 2002.

While studying at BYU, he was a development and test engineer at PowerStream Technology from March 2000 to August 2003. He moved on as a senior scientist at MOXTEK later in 2003, working with X-ray products. After 5 years at MOXTEK, he was a lead scientist at Millenniata of a group that developed the "M disc" until mid-2010.

Just over a year later, he became the chief science officer at Motion Sciences and kept the job until exactly two years later in 2013. Following the stint, he became an independent physics consultant at CJ's Toybox for a year and then at MicroRay, LLC., for less than a year in 2015. Being the VP of engineering at Brandon Fugal’s Axcend Corp. was another one of his short-lived jobs, in the same year Fugal bought the Skinwalker Ranch.

However, his big leap had already come in late 2010 when he joined ML3 Scientific as the director of Applied Physics before taking over as the director of the company itself in May 2012. He still holds his position while working on the Skinwalker Ranch and is listed as the co-founder of the firm. And according to Dun & Bradstreet, their revenue is collected to $96,335 in 2021, at the time of writing.

Bard Has a Dozen Patents to His Name

Erik Bard is also labeled as an inventor on account of the number of patents he's filed under his name and his career track record of working in most R&D departments. And considering his continuous allegiance to the serendipities in Physics, especially in electrophotography and X-rays during the turn of a technological revolution, there's always something new happening in that part of the world.

Erik Bard with a radioactive sign on a screen on the side.Erik Bard during the filming of 'The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch', Season 2.
Photo Source: Brandon Fugal, Twitter

According to Justia Patents, the 53-year-old has at least 12 inventions to his name between 2008 and 2013. All of them are partnered with various people he's worked with at Moxtek or Brigham Young University. And the majority of them are in research of X-rays.

Bard's Alumni US profile also lists a plethora of skills under his name, going from technical writing & C++ programming to spectroscopy & nanotechnology. And as a principal investigator at Skinwalker Ranch, he also conducted "a low-profile observational science program" within the compound quite before the History Channel continued it into a show.

Erik Bard Net Worth

Bard isn't exactly open with any part of his life besides his work. As he mentioned in his LinkedIn profile, he doesn't maintain any social media account elsewhere, but he is open to any contacts through the business profile. So any other information about him is rare.

Erik Bard (right) and Bryant "Dragon" Arnold (left) on 'The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch'.Photo Source: History Channel

As for his net worth, there can only be estimations. And there are no verified sources for the number. The company revenue mentioned on Dun & Bradstreet was the only number available. So, his value is a mystery as is Fugal's. And upon scraping for information, it's also popped up that Bard is a married man with Oksana V. Bard (née Romanyuk) as his wife.

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The second season of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is currently underway. Starring fellow scientist Travis Taylor, Fugal was revealed as the owner of the ranch, having been a mystery after Robert Bigelow. Along with the employees like Bryant "Dragon" Arnold, Jim Morse, the ever-so-interesting Thomas Winterton, and the Linde-Lewis couple, there are a number of guests who appear whenever needed.

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