• Michael MacDonald

Catching up with Michael McDonald - Scholar/Engineer

AIMES Education Award 2016

2017 has been a very busy year for me. I submitted my PhD thesis in March, which was the culmination of four years of hard work and research at the University of Melbourne. My thesis discussed the intricate turbulent flow dynamics of a fluid passing over a rough surface. I developed a novel framework in which the very expensive computations of such fluid flows can be conducted at a much reduced cost, which will help in aiding designs of engineering systems involving roughness. My thesis was examined by internationally recognised researchers, who recommended I be awarded my PhD without any further examination or amendment. I therefore recently graduated in December, which I celebrated with my wife, parents and friends in Melbourne.

Since submitting my thesis in March, I stayed on at the University of Melbourne as a postdoctoral research assistant. I was continuing the research I had conducted during my PhD, including writing two journal articles that I recently submitted. I also presented my research at an international conference held in Chicago in July, as well as a workshop held in Auckland in November. During this time, I also married my lovely wife, Julie, during a ceremony held in Kumeu in August.
Next year, I will be moving to Pasadena, California to join the Aerosol and Cloud Science group at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Here I will be researching cloud formation and break up, which is critical to meteorological and climate prediction models. Coming from an engineering background, this is quite a change in research fields although the fundamental physics is the same. I am looking forward to learning the different research approaches and techniques used by the group, as well as exploring Los Angeles with my wife.

 


Fourteenth Annual Issue 2017/18