Dr. Gandy received his undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins University and at Memphis State University (MSU), and was awarded B.S. degrees in physics and mathematics from MSU in 1975. He received an M.S. degree in plasma physics from MSU in 1977, and in 1981 was awarded a Ph.D. in plasma physics from the University of Texas.

From 1981 to 1984, he held a postdoctoral research appointment at MIT's Plasma Fusion Center. Prior to his work at Idaho, Gandy served as associate dean for research at Auburn University's College of Science and Mathematics. Before that, Gandy was an assistant professor, associate professor and professor at Auburn for 15 years.

Gandy has published 65 referred articles and has generated approximately $8.5 million in external research funding. Gandy has supported nine postdoctoral researchers, served as major professor for 12 graduate students and supported over 50 undergraduate research
assistants.

Gandy has produced a long and distinguished research career. While in graduate school at UT he carried out experimental studies on the Texas Experimental Tokamak, and while at MIT he worked on the Alcator C Tokamak, one of the nation's premiere fusion research devices. At Auburn, Gandy led the research activities on two fusion devices, the Auburn Torsatron and the Compact Auburn Torsatron. At Idaho, he has expanded his research interests to include studies of plasma-material interactions, with an emphasis in applications of plasmas in the production of novel nanomaterials.

Gandy has a long record of successful collaborative research with researchers from the University of Texas, MIT, University of Wisconsin, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Georgia Tech, Boise State University, Idaho State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Gandy is married to Dr. Laura Prange, an award-winning sculptor who will be working as an assistant professor at USM. He has three children, Neil, Joan and Amanda, all of whom are currently pursuing degrees in higher education.