President’s Biography

Dr. 麦克马汉 became the seventh President of 凯特林 University in August 2011. 凯特林, formerly known as GMI, is one of the nation’s premier 工程, 科学, and business universities and is dedicated to offering a curriculum that deeply integrates classroom learning with experiential and co-operative educational opportunities for all students. 凯特林 is a national leader in preparing STEM and business entrepreneurs and innovators. U.S. 新闻 & World Report ranks 凯特林 among the nation’s finest specialty schools. The Wall Street Journal ranked 凯特林 first in the country in career preparation; The Economist noted that 凯特林 “produces the fourth-highest share of inventors” among selective colleges and universities, surpassing universities such as Stanford, 哈佛大学, and Carnegie Mellon. 

Dr. 麦克马汉 was one of four presidents highlighted in the book Governance Reconsidered, by Susan Pierce in Chapter 8 under “Exemplary Tales: Successful Presidents.”

Prior to joining 凯特林, Dr. 麦克马汉 was the Founding Dean of and Professor of Engineering in the Western Carolina University College of Engineering and Technology, a role he was asked to take by the Chancellor and UNC system leadership. In this role he was charged with the creation of an innovative, 但可复制, college of 工程 model for regional universities centered around the development of a set of project-based, regionally-engaged 工程 and technology programs.

在那之前, while simultaneously holding the position of 研究 Professor of Physics and Astronomy at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (a position he held from 1989-2010), Dr. 麦克马汉 was Senior Advisor to the Governor of North Carolina for Science and Technology, and the Executive Director of the North Carolina Office of Science and Technology. 在这个角色中, he also acted as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, the General Assembly, and the Economic Development Board. He was responsible for developing and implementing the state’s technology and university-based economic development programs as well as acting as a primary liaison between the Governor’s administration and the 16-campus UNC and 58-campus NC 社区 College systems.

Prior to his work with the Governor, he was a Senior Technology Strategist and Venture Capitalist for In-Q-Tel, a private venture capital organization funded by the Central Intelligence Agency, where he was responsible for developing a technology investment strategy for the intelligence community, and then deriving, 成型, and structuring individual investments and technologies within the portfolio in response to it.

Before joining In-Q-Tel, he was Executive Vice President of Engineering and R&D for GretagMacbeth, 有限责任公司, where he was responsible for the company’s worldwide research, 工程, and product development activities and for the creation and operation of the company’s Advanced Technology Laboratories in the 研究 Triangle Park. He joined GretagMacbeth after its acquisition in 2000 of MRL, the advanced technologies company he founded in Cambridge, MA and later expanded to the 研究 Triangle Park of North Carolina. He has been involved in the creation of a number of technology startups, and he has co-led multiple significant equity and LBO capital raises.

In addition to the above activities, Dr. 麦克马汉 has also been a visiting fellow at both Oxford University and the University of Durham. While at the University of North Carolina he led active NSF and PPARC funded research programs in astrophysics while also serving as the sole 科学 advisor to the university’s advanced 4-meter telescope project (SOAR) in Chile. He has also held a number of other academic appointments, including Adjunct Professor at the North Carolina State University and 访问ing Assistant Professor at Dartmouth.

He received dual Bachelors’ Degrees in Physics and in the History of Art from Duke University, a Ph.D. in Physics from Dartmouth, and completed postdoctoral studies at the 哈佛大学 University - Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Center for Astrophysics under the mentorship of MacArthur Fellow Margaret Geller, where he also held an appointment as an Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Institution. He has completed executive leadership programs at the 哈佛大学 Kennedy School and the 哈佛大学 研究生院 of Education.

Dr. 麦克马汉 has extensive national and international speaking, 咨询, and management experience in organizations and initiatives related to technology and product development, 研究政策, investment capital, entrepreneurship and innovation-based economic development. He has spoken and consulted with national and international organizations interested in innovation policy, investment capital, technology based economic development, university research, and the university’s role in economic development at the invitation of organizations including the National Academies, 美国国会, and the Federal Reserve as well as a number of international governments.

Dr. 麦克马汉 participated in research that led to the cosmological discoveries of the “Great Attractor,” as well as the “bubble and void” structure of the universe and the “Great Wall,” the latter of which at the time of discovery was the largest known structure in the universe. These are now foundational elements of modern dark matter theory. He has published over fifty papers in scientific and 工程 journals, sits on a number of corporate boards and state and national commissions, and holds multiple domestic and international patents.

Dr. 麦克马汉 has led the University through a transformational decade, described in this special edition of 凯特林 Magazine.