Chal S. Davidson : Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers - 2014

B.S. Nuclear Engineering, 2001 President and Chief Executive Officer, SuperCritical Technologies, Inc. Seattle, Wash.Chal Davidson is part engineer, part entrepreneur. Besides recently starting SuperCritical Technologies, he’s  held positions at Intellectual Ventures and LockheedMartin, managed restaurants, started a brewery, and helped build a custom-home construction company. His diverse experience is somewhat of a professional philosophy for Davidson, who believes that learning is a life-long pursuit.“People need to do a lot of different things to keep the mind stimulated,” he said. “Obviously you don’t want  to just jump from job to job, but the person who stays in the same position for his or her whole life doesn’t  exist anymore.” In his current role at SuperCritical Technologies, Davidson is helping to spearhead a cutting-edge technology  that uses a thermodynamic power energy conversion cycle for making electricity. The result is a high  efficiency, flexible power source.Prior to 2003, there was little work being done in the field, so Davidson is fortunate to be on the cusp of an emerging and promising technology.Davidson’s education at Oregon State played a significant role in his professional success. He went on to earn two additional degrees elsewhere but circles back to the solid skills he gained at Oregon State. “I still continue to do a lot of engineering in my job, and the education I got at Oregon State was top-notch,” he said.