Robert K. McMahan (born 1961) is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

, and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

who is the seventh and current

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Kettering University Kettering University is a private university in Flint, Michigan. It offers Bachelor of Science, bachelor of science and master's degree, master’s degrees in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM (science, technology, engineer ...

.Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 54 (Monday, April 16, 2012).
/ref>

Biography and career

Academic

McMahan received undergraduate degrees in physics and the history of art from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 1982 and a Ph.D. in physics from Dartmouth in 1986 under Gary Wegner. After a postdoctoral appointment at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian under

Margaret Geller Margaret J. Geller (born December 8, 1947) is an American astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work has included pioneering maps of the nearby universe, studies of the relationship between galaxies and their ...

(1986-1989), and while also engaged in a number of corporate and public sector roles (see ''Corporate and Public'' below), he served as a research professor of physics and astronomy at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

from 1989-2008 as well as a visiting scholar at Oxford University and the University of Durham (UK). He joined

Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU ...

in 2008 as the founding dean of the Kimmel School and Professor of Engineering prior to becoming the seventh president of

in 2011, where he also holds an appointment as a tenured professor of physics. McMahan is known for computational modeling and observational work in

white dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

stars early in his career, then later for work in

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

and

extragalactic astronomy Extragalactic astronomy is the branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside the Milky Way galaxy. In other words, it is the study of all astronomical objects which are not covered by galactic astronomy. The closest objects in extragalactic ...

.SAO/NASA ADS at SAO: ADS Abstract Service
/ref> As a graduate student he was involved with the ''Seven Samurai'' research group that postulated the existence of the

Great Attractor The Great Attractor is a region of gravitational attraction in intergalactic space and the apparent central gravitational point of the Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way galaxy, as well as about 100,000 other galaxi ...

. This effort resulted in the development of a methodology of estimating the distance to galaxies which, when applied, has become one of the most reliable ways to measure the total mass density of the universe. As a postdoc at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian under

he participated in research that resulted in the development of maps of the

large-scale structure of the universe The observable universe is a spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of th ...

, which led to the discovery of the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection agains ...

. M. J. Geller & J. P. Huchra, ''Science'' 246, 897 (1989).
/ref> He was a member of the EFAR project, a detailed study of the

peculiar velocity Peculiar motion or peculiar velocity refers to the velocity of an object relative to a ''rest frame''—usually a frame in which the average velocity of some objects is zero. Galactic astronomy In galactic astronomy, peculiar motion refers to t ...

distribution of a large number elliptical-rich

galaxy clusters A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Clusters consist of galax ...

. At the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian he developed 3D visualization software that was used in the 40-minute film, ''So Many Galaxies...So Little Time,'' which was on display at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

. He has published over 50 articles in astronomy and astrophysics, engineering and public policy and holds five US patents. McMahan assumed the position of president of

on August 1, 2011.

Corporate and public

While at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, McMahan founded McMahan Research Laboratories, an applied physics systems research and development firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1988, which relocated to the

Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States; it occupies in North Carolina and hosts more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profi ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in 1989 and later was acquired in 2000 by Gretag-Macbeth. He then joined

In-Q-Tel In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the lates ...

, a private venture capital organization funded by the CIA, and afterward served as the senior advisor to the governor of North Carolina for science and technology, and the executive director of the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology from 2003-2008Governor's senior adviser has his job down to a science. ''The Business Journal'' July 3, 2006.
/ref> where he led the development of significant state and national innovation, investment capital, and technology based economic development policies and legislation, and was a frequent international speaker on academic entrepreneurship and on the role of universities in economic development.The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (2006).
/ref>

Personal

McMahan has been married to the former Karen Deschamps, a graduate of

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, since 1989. They have two children.

References

External links

Office of the President Kettering University
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahan, Robert Living people 1961 births 21st-century American physicists Discoverers of astronomical objects Kettering University faculty Duke University alumni Dartmouth College alumni American cosmologists American astrophysicists American corporate directors Kettering University Heads of universities and colleges in the United States