Maverick Engineers

DEANNE BELL – Engineer
Deanne can recite many digits of pi, but her talents don't stop there! She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2002 from Washington University in St. Louis. Her work experience ranges from designing FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) and LADAR optical navigation systems for the aerospace industry to doing product development for a CAD software startup. Deanne is passionate about working with the next generation of scientists and engineers, and previously hosted Design Squad, an educational show for teens on PBS. When Deanne's not analyzing the destruction at Smash Lab, she seeks out global travel and outdoor adventure. She has hiked to the base of Mt. Everest, cycled from Seattle to Los Angeles, and backpacked solo throughout Asia.

GADGET – Fabricator
Gadget builds it big and green. You may recognize his smiling face and flying tools from the Discovery Channel series Big and Monster House. Gadget has always been the guy who can build anything. While working on Big, he earned 10 Guinness World Records for engineering and fabricating some of the biggest objects ever, including the world’s largest popcorn popper and the world’s largest playable electric guitar. Gadget also finds time to save the world by transforming gas-guzzlers into environmentally-friendly-but-rip-roaring electric muscle cars. He has wielded a welder since age 14. Oh, and he is also known as Rev. Gadget because he really is a reverend. Ordained in 1986, he occasionally performs weddings for his family and friends.

CHUCK MESSER – Engineer
Chuck Messer knows all about technology for the betterment of human life. He’s designed surgical tools for robotically assisted heart surgery and prosthetics for use around the world. He is chairman of the Shared Design Alliance, an organization that supports and promotes the free sharing of design work for public benefit, and is a founder of the Open Prosthetics Project, an effort to design and develop prosthetics and share the work freely with the public. Adept at engineering tricky concepts and developing and prototyping technology, Chuck will focus on a job from the drawing board to the workshop.

NATHANIEL TAYLOR – Fabricator
Nathaniel is a fabricator extraordinaire. If you can imagine it, he can forge it into real-world shapes. Nathaniel studied at the University of Colorado-Boulder's School of Environmental Architecture and Design, the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building, and California College of Arts (CCA), where he earned his degree in fine arts. He taught kinetic sculpture at U.C. Berkeley, CCA, and The Crucible, plus he re-engineered kid-durable science exhibits for San Francisco’s world-renown Exploratorium. Fellow artists have admired his sculptures and flocked to his workshop, RadioRobot, a prototype lab for mechanical and electronic art.