Charlie Sellers

Charlie has a background in advanced materials (metals and ceramics) development – spending 10 years at a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory and +10 years in industry working at international manufacturing operations, including 2 years in China operating rare earth magnet factories.  He is adept at troubleshooting problems and bringing new products to market, in both high tech and developing world arenas.

When he is not working with the more exotic elements from the periodic table, he specializes in the development and deployment of appropriate technologies for emerging economies, including alternative energy, improved cooking appliances, clean water, and sanitation.  He claims to travel easily and is familiar with a very wide range of materials and technologies, using them to solve problems employing a human-centered design approach to engineering – utilizing local skills and easily available resources whenever possible.  He believes in the value of mentoring startup companies, using his experiences in the business world to encourage social entrepreneurs to develop new products that will make a difference.

Charlie has a BS in Physics from the College of William and Mary, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Northwestern University.  He has been with Catapult Design since it evolved from the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders and enjoys working in areas such as test development and data analysis, quality assurance and risk management, manufacturing in limited-resource settings, and field deployments for new product testing.