Tim Macdonald Email & Phone Number

Irvine, Ca, Us

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

- Co-founded an aerospace company initially focused on development of low-boom supersonics and later on UAS platforms for defense applications in multiple size classes and speed regimes. Built the engineering team to 15+ members and secured $3M+ in contracts with another $5M+ in private funds. - Led a multidisciplinary team through early-stage requirement development and design efforts for a Mach 1.8, 70 passenger low-boom supersonic transport, a supersonic adversary air vehicle, and a next-generation supersonic aerial target, as well as design, part procurement, build, and test for multiple small UAS. - Documented results internally through system description documents for each vehicle iteration, and externally through progress reports, deliverables, design reviews, and periodic status presentations for USAF and commercial customers.- Brought two small uncrewed aircraft from conceptual design to first flight: a turbine-powered subscale adversary air demonstrator (Group 2 size with a ground station) and an electric-powered delivery prototype (Group 1).- Developed test plans and conducted sUAS subsystem testing, including engine tests, sensor checkouts, and control power evaluation.- Managed creation and testing of a Python-based MDAO suite in a version-controlled environment (Git), encompassing major disciplines such as aerodynamics, propulsion, and mass properties at multiple fidelity levels.- Individually developed aircraft sizing and optimization tools for all vehicle classes within our MDAO suite. Key implementations included integration with external aerodynamic programs, weight estimation methods for sUAS, and mission profiles based on customer requirements.- Contributed to vehicle configuration development using OpenVSP and CATIA V5, including inboard profile, structural arrangement, and LO considerations. - Directed low-speed wind tunnel testing for a model of the supersonic airliner at the University of Washington.

Stanford, Ca, Us

- Developed capabilities for a new conceptual Python-based aircraft design and optimization tool known as SUAVE which was built to handle unconventional designs. Publicly available at suave.stanford.edu.- Implemented methods to automatically generate vehicle geometries through OpenVSP and evaluate performance at multiple fidelities including direct CFD evaluation through SU2. Included multi-fidelity optimization methods that made use of additive corrections and trust regions for high accuracy with fewer high-fidelity function evaluations.- Researched multi-fidelity methods for aerodynamic performance prediction in transonic flow for PhD thesis. This culminated in a new method that uses derivative-augmented shape-preserving response prediction to model 2D to 3D transformations of transonic CFD results for wings characteristic of current transonic aircraft. This showed up to a 5x speed improvement in the wing design process.- Adapted legacy Fortran code to interface with a parallelized Python driver as part of the CFD optimization routine.

Stanford, Ca, Us

ME271: Aerodynamic Drone DesignDesigned homework assignments, held office hours, and graded assignments. Course covered aerodynamic design of airfoils and propellers.

Stanford, Ca, Us

AA241A/B: Introduction to Aircraft Design, Synthesis, and AnalysisHeld office hours and graded assignments. Course covered all major disciplines needed to design a commercial aircraft at the conceptual level.

- Used FEA software to conduct modal analysis of structures used in the LIGO program. Models were primarily constructed with SolidWorks and analyzed using ANSYS.- Took measurements on-site at LIGO Hanford to determine the cause of problematic resonance characteristics. Measurements were done with the Brüel & Kjær PULSE modal analysis system.- Assisted with the design of future cryogenic systems through FEA modeling and hardware testing.

Arlington, Va, Us

- Worked in the supply management engineering group to help reduce cost of building commercial airplanes. Engaged with Boeing engineers and suppliers to assess needs and gather information on technical requirements.

- Constructed and modified assemblies with SolidWorks to be imported for testing in ANSYS. FEA included modeling many structures with various materials and constraints to extract modal data for use in comparison with real structures and in developing new structures.- Measured modal data of real structures using Brüel & Kjær PULSE modal analysis software. Created models to compare with simulated structures and to determine methods to dampen or eliminate problem frequencies.

Arlington, Va, Us

- Built and tested thermal spacecraft subsystem models with CAD and finite element analysis tools to verify designs. - Developed an independently conceived software tool designed to significantly reduce the time required and the error potential in constructing element maps for new models.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Aeronautics And Astronautics

Master Of Science (Ms), Aeronautics And Astronautics

Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace