Jon Mcdonald Email and Phone Number

Provided project-wide aerothermal subject matter expertise in support of Project Phoenix - the development and fielding of a large-scale, clean-air hypersonic wind tunnel. Primary duty while in this role was to manage redesign of the Phoenix Air Delivery System to meet facility performance, cost, and schedule targets.

Provided propulsion expertise in support of DoD (primarily US Navy) Air and Missile Defense Systems.Awesome company for which to work, and even more awesome people with which to work.

Support NASA Marshall Space Flight Center efforts towards development of a hydrogen propellant, nuclear thermal rocket engine system. Coordinate efforts of supporting personnel from engine system sub-disciplines (Flow Control, Thrust Chamber, Turbo-machinery, Main Propulsion System, Reactor Design) towards definition of an engine system that both meets mission performance targets and yet straightforward enough to ensure future development/deployment success. Maintain the steady-state engine system power balance for this system and simulate, along with reactor design team, the startup and shutdown transient processes.In relation to the nuclear thermal rocket work above, I have combined the existing National Institute for Standards and Technology database for parahydrogen thermophysical properties (valid up to 1000 Kelvin) with my own a-priori calculations (up to 6000 K and 100 MPa). The resulting combined property database provides a common source of properties needed for systems analyses of nuclear thermal engine systems, is thermodynamically consistent with NIST data, and accounts for the effects of fugacity on chemical composition.

• Responsible for government insight/oversight of development for axial propulsive elements and the Divert and Attitude Control System/Kinetic Warhead (DACS/KW) assembly - Standard Missile 3 Block IIA round within the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Duties include regular technical interface with missile contractors, review of prime contractor budget and schedule as well as coordination/execution of program milestone reviews with both prime and sub-contractors.Standard Missile 3 Program Office liaison between hardware contractors and government Insensitive Munitions Office and government energetic materials testing laboratories.  Responsible for ensuring that appropriate characterization and safety tests were scheduled and performed for all energetics within the SM-3 IIA round.  Negotiated details of test procedures/requirements between government Safety/IM subject matter experts and hardware contractors.  These duties required a detailed knowledge of Safety/IM test requirements, intent of specific tests, and details of test apparatus and procedures.

• Responsible for analysis of the Pressurization/Purge/Pneumatics subsystems of the Crew Launch Vehicle (ARES I) Main Propulsion System (MPS). Also, provided subject matter expertise to MPS Team in the areas of propellant slosh dynamics, guidance navigation and control 6-DOF simulation of mission flight-day dispersions, fluidic/propellant mitigation of unwanted vehicle structural vibrations, and advanced topics in cryogenic heat transfer.• Developer of AEROASST software application for preliminary thermal protection system (TPS) design/sizing for vehicles executing aeroassist maneuvers (direct entry, orbital aerocapture, and aerobraking) in planetary atmospheres. Simultaneous integration of trajectory equations of motion, aeroheating estimation, and TPS thermal response.• Responsible for the day to day administrative and technical oversight of up to 10 engineers working on the development/testing of advanced liquid rocket (NASA FASTRAC) and hypersonic airbreathing propulsion (X43b/ISTAR, X43c) technology demonstrators. Management duties included ensuring that assigned project stages were completed on schedule, within budget, and in compliance with all Quality and HSE objectives. Responsible for ensuring that customer requirements were met through direct customer interface, monthly reporting to upper management, and by technical and editorial review of ongoing work.• Co developer of the Arbitrary Geometry Model (AGM), an Excel/Visual-Basic application that defines arbitrary shapes as collections of surface points and adds/subtracts these shapes to represent complex flight vehicles in analysis codes.• Co developer of the Marshall Ejector Ramjet Performance Analysis Code (MERPAC) for the tip to tail (forebody aerodynamics, inlet air compression, inlet combustor isolation, combustion, aft body expansion) performance analysis of hypersonic airbreathing propulsion systems.

• Responsible for fluid flow and heat transfer analyses of kerosene and liquid oxygen storage and delivery systems, propellant orientation/slosh analyses in flight storage tanks, and propellant fill/jettison system design for the X 34 hypersonic research vehicle. X-34 duties included determination of environmental/performance requirements for fluid control components and drafting their acquisition specifications.• Performance modeling of a solar thermal thruster including the effects chemical/vibrational relaxation of propellant molecules in the thruster nozzle.

• Responsible for projects related to improving the curing system including new product industrialization and process improvement projects. Design of a relational database process/product specification system. Produced minute by minute project management plans in coordination with production schedulers to ensure ongoing product/quality trials would not adversely impact daily production requirements.• Responsible for the quality inspection, maintenance, and repair of all curing related hardware (roughly $10 million capital value).• Gained invaluable interpersonal skills by working closely with production laborers and learning to understand the manufacturing process from their point of view.

• Responsible for the design of automotive paint shop conveyors and drafting of procedures for their installation at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, KY.• Designed an elevated work platform system covering roughly 30,000 square feet. System designed from outset to minimize engineering and fabrication man-hours as well as the need for on site modification during installation, resulting in a total installed cost per square foot that was roughly half that of previous similar work platform systems.• Ensured all aspects of Tsubaki designed systems met OSHA/State building codes.