Chris Culbertson Email & Phone Number

Garden Grove, Ca

Lead development, production, and qualification testing of high-performance power supplies and DC-DC power converters for spacecraft, military aircraft, and commercial aircraft programs.

Irvine, Ca

Led development and flight testing of a small UAV system for a Department of Defense customer.Developed proposals for multiple government contract opportunities. Proposal tasks included capture opportunity ranking, competitive assessments, initial and follow-up customer contact, brainstorming, storyboarding, writing, reviewing/editing, and cost estimating.

Lake Forest, California

Manage schedule, budget, and technical performance of alternative fuel vehicle propulsion systems.Led development and productionization of next-generation CNG fuel systems for heavy-duty trucks. Developed systems are 35 percent lighter than nearest competitor, with improved durability and reduced life cycle/initial purchase costs.

Tustin, California

Led successful capture of $12 million theme park attraction design and build contract.Led proposal teams to successful capture of 17 SBIR (Phase 1 and 2) and other DoD contracts worth $7 million.Proposal tasks included capture opportunity ranking, competitive assessments, initial and follow-up customer contact, brainstorming, storyboarding, writing, conceptual CAD development, reviewing/editing, managing capture teams, cost estimating/BOE development, and contract negotiations.Managed schedule, budget, and technical performance of the successfully captured contracts as well as other contracts worth $8 million.Developed innovative active restraint system for seated vehicle crew to protect from vehicle crashes and blast events (U.S. Patent Application 2009/0309346).Developed innovative restraint system to protect standing aircrew during crash, rollover, and fall events (U.S. Patent 8,328,166).Developed system to safely defeat anti-tank mines (U.S. Patent Application 2011/0290047 ).Developed airless vehicle wheel with controllable stiffness (U.S. Patent 8,631,844).

Anaheim, California

Managed $3 million program to develop and produce new, mobile aircrew webbing retractor for all Navy Seahawk helicopters. Program included finite element analysis, static and crash sled testing, and flight testing (U.S. Patent 7,275,710).Led development of seawater-activated parachute canopy release for use with Navy and Air Force ejection seats.Developed rollover sensing and crew protection system for USMC light armored vehicle (U.S. Patent 7,413,247).Managed $1 million program to develop MA-16 inertia reel retrofit kits and restraints for virtually all nonejecting crew seats used in USAF’s fixed-wing aircraft.

Long Beach, California

DesignDesigned thrust reverser for supersonic engine (U.S. Patent 5,987,880).Designed engine mount system for supersonic engine (U.S. Patent 6,126,110).Developed air-breathing engine installation for reusable launch vehicle.Designed low-speed wind tunnel model of reusable launch vehicle.Redesigned auxiliary power unit (APU) exhaust system for C-17 military transport to minimize part count and reduce manufacturing and assembly costs.Designed engine inlets, nozzles, and pylons for supersonic wind tunnel models.Developed APU installation for MD-11 derivative airplane.Designed, built, and tested pneumatic soil erosion test device.Designed test equipment for simulating vertical and short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) propulsion systems.AnalysisPerformed root cause analyses of system and component failures of the C-17 propulsion system.Performed finite element analyses and weight optimizations of engine mount systems and wind tunnel models using NASTRAN and PATRAN.Developed weight estimations of supersonic transport inlets and nacelles.Computer ProgrammingDeveloped IGES translator for an engine analysis and design program using FORTRAN.Converted stand-alone turbomachinery performance map plotting programs to use a multiplatform graphics library, and incorporated the map plotting routines into an engine analysis and design program.Developed parametric design and weight estimation program for aircraft drivetrain and cross-shafting systems.Developed computer simulations to model V/STOL propulsion systems.

Bsme, Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

All MSME coursework complete