- MacDonald is the third full professor to join the ISE department.
- At IBM, MacDonald worked on the Nintendo GameCube and the PlayStation 3.
- MacDonald plans to integrate engineering and art into his research.
The Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering welcomes Eric MacDonald, Ph.D., as a full professor. MacDonald is known for his extensive expertise in industry and additive manufacturing research.
He received his education at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with his doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering in 2002. After working at IBM and Motorola, MacDonald co-founded a CAD software startup that was acquired by a Silicon Valley firm in 2003.
At IBM, MacDonald worked on the Nintendo GameCube, the PlayStation 3, and the Apple Macintosh before he started his career in higher education.
He became an aerospace and mechanical engineering professor at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2003. There, MacDonald began exploring 3D printing.
In 2016, he moved to Ohio, where he was a professor at Youngstown State University to engage with America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio. After four years, MacDonald returned to Texas for his love of teaching at El Paso — not to mention his love of Mexican food.
Over the past 10 years, MacDonald has expanded his research and continues to review and accept papers for academic journals. He served as a co-founding editor for the highest impact factor academic journal worldwide in manufacturing, “Elsevier’s Additive Manufacturing.” He is currently the editor-in-chief of a new sibling journal, “Additive Manufacturing Letters.”
At the University of Florida, he is excited to continue his research exploring metals, ceramics and complex geometries in a variety of applications.
After hearing ISE Chair Iris V. Rivero, Ph.D., share her excitement about the UF’s 3D concrete printer from Denmark, he was inspired to join the department.
“The University of Florida is in the American Association of Universities, which is a very prestigious group,” said MacDonald. “They’ve got a long heritage of manufacturing, but not necessarily additive. Industrial and systems engineering is really leading the way. Chair Iris Rivero, who I’ve known for 25 years, is famous in her field, and she got me excited to come here.”
Rivero and MacDonald met while serving on a National Science Foundation review panel together 20 years ago.
“I’m really excited to come to Florida for different reasons,” said MacDonald. “One would be 3D-printed sand to do disposable molds for casting metal. I’m planning to work with several people in mechanical engineering, the art department and certainly Industrial and Systems Engineering. Another area would be ceramics, looking at semiconductor packaging and electronics, where you can use the complex geometries for electromagnetic purposes or thermal management in ways that you couldn’t do before.”
As MacDonald starts his first semester at UF, his main priority will be establishing his lab, growing his sand-printing equipment and being involved in the new UF Applied Research for National Security Laboratory, known as ARNS, at the Jacksonville campus.
MacDonald is also a joint faculty member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with the U.S. Department of Energy. He also works closely with Savannah River National Lab, Sandia National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab and Pacific Northwest National Lab.
“A lot of national security applications stand to benefit from this technology, and I want to do something remarkable,” said MacDonald. “I want to do something that inspires students and helps develop the next generation of workforce in engineering and science.”
A Texas football fan who is still stinging a little from UF’s win last year, MacDonald sincerely looks forward to cheering on the Gators this year. In fact, this former Longhorn is now a Florida football season ticket holder.