About
Dan MacDonald received a B.S.C.E degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire in 1992, a M.S. degree from Cornell University in 1996, and a Ph.D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Joint Program in Oceanographic Engineering in 2003.
In 2003, Dr. MacDonald joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. From 2003 – 2014 he was a faculty member in the Department of Estuarine and Ocean Science (DEOS) within the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST). In 2014, he became a member of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in the College of Engineering, where he is currently a professor and co-Department Chair. He continues to maintain an appointment as affiliate faculty in the School for Marine Science and Technology.
Dr. MacDonald’s research interests include turbulence and mixing in the coastal ocean, the dynamics of river plumes, use of autonomous vehicles in environmental data collection, and marine renewable energy, specifically ocean wave energy conversion. He has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Energy, and numerous other federal and state agencies.
Dr. MacDonald is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) and has significant experience in consulting engineering, including full time work with several firms in the Boston area during the 1990s, and continued consulting and expert witness activities over the last three decades. He has published over 30 peer reviewed articles, and holds 4 patents. Dr. MacDonald is a member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Society of Civil Engineers.