Charles Ward is chief of the Manufacturing and Industrial Technologies Division at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, where he is responsible for executing a program valued at over $1.4 billion. He previously led the directorate's efforts in integrated computational materials science and engineering and was co-chair of the Materials Genome Initiative Subcommittee under the National Science and Technology Council.

His TMS activities include editor-in-chief of Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation, past-chair and member of the Materials Innovation Committee, member of the Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME), Accreditation, and Financial Planning Committees, and past Structural Materials Division representative to the Publications Coordination Committee (now the Content Development and Disseminations Committee). He currently represents TMS as a commissioner to ABET's Engineering Accreditation Commission.

His professional career has spanned 33 years, serving in several roles in research, engineering, and management. His research has focused on the microstructure-property relationships in titanium and titanium aluminide alloys. He has served as manager for the Air Force's basic research program in metals and as an engineer on the F-35 propulsion program. He also served as staff officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, as Air Force liaison for materials research and development in Europe, and as chief of the Metals, Ceramics, and Nondestructive Evaluation Division of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the materials engineering degree program at the University of Dayton and is a Fellow of ASM International.

Ward received his B.S. (1984), M.S. (1985), and Ph.D. (1992) in materials science and engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.