Captain Edwards is a native of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.  A 1993 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was awarded a Master of Science in Manufacturing Engineering degree from Boston University in 2001.

He served in Ships on the East and West Coast and has deployed to the Western Pacific, South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, Baltic Sea, North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.  He served as Assistant CIC Officer and Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer in USS PHILIPPINE SEA (CG 58) homeported in Mayport, Florida.  After attending the Nuclear Power Training Pipeline in Orlando, Florida and Charleston, South Carolina; he served as the Chemistry and Radiological Controls Assistant in USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) in Norfolk, Virginia.  His conventional Department Head tour was as Operations Officer in USS JARRETT (FFG 33) in San Diego, California. Following his time as OPS, he served as the Reactor Electrical Assistant in USS HARRY S TRUMAN (CVN 75). His first command tour was as the Executive Officer and the Commanding Officer of the lead ship in the Littoral Combat Ship Class - USS FREEDOM (LCS 1) in San Diego, California. His major command at sea tour was the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of the USS MICHAEL MONSOOR (DDG 1001) - the Navy’s largest and most advanced surface combatant.

Ashore, Captain Edwards served as a NROTC Instructor at Boston University/MIT.  He also instructed Officer students in Electrical Engineering at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, South Carolina. Following his Principal Assistant tour onboard HARRY S TRUMAN, he was the Branch Chief of the Command and Control shop at the U. S. Indo- Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii. After his Commanding Officer tour on USS FREEDOM, he commanded the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit, Ballston Spa New York. Following his major command ashore tour at NPTU Ballston Spa, he was assigned as the U.S. Pacific Fleet Assistant Chief of Staff in Pearl Harbor Hawaii. Returning to the U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters after MONSOOR, he served as the Chief of Staff for Maritime Operations. Captain Edwards is currently the Professor of Naval Science at Northwestern University and at the Illinois Institute of Technology and is the Commanding Officer of the Chicago NROTC Consortium.

Captain Edwards is a Surface Warfare Officer and is designated as a Joint Qualified Officer. His decorations include the Legion of Merit (4), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (5), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and is authorized to wear various theater and service medals and ribbons.