The Meinig School is proud to welcome Jordan McMahan to our staff as a teaching support specialist. In this role, McMahan works closely with faculty to support the design lab experience for M.Eng. students and undergraduate seniors, consulting on student projects and helping to improve the lab organization and workflow.
Originally from Commerce Township, Michigan, McMahan holds a bachelor’s degree from Oakland University (Rochester, MI), where he studied bioengineering with an electrical engineering focus. His research there involved electrochemistry, investigating the application of new materials to the detection of carbon monoxide in electrochemical sensors. “Electrochemistry was interesting to me,” says McMahan, “because it applied the electronics concepts taught in my engineering classes to a new field and helped me see chemistry from a new perspective.”
McMahan comes to Cornell most recently from Avomeen (Ann Arbor, MI), an independent contract testing lab, where he worked as an analytical chemist developing methods to detect biologic analytes of interest in a variety of sample matrices, as well as a method to quantitate the metal ion content in a metalloprotein drug product.
This experience in chemistry, says McMahan, gives him a unique perspective on the more biochemically focused projects in the lab, while his education in electronics lends support the electromechanical projects.
M.Eng. program design lecturer Jack Thompson agrees. “Jordan brings new expertise and depth to the project support network in the BME design space and has embraced the dual roles of project support and hands-on assistance. Working effectively with students, he has methodically set about improving our organization and storage of equipment and materials.”
Newton de Faria, professor of practice and director of the Meinig School’s M.Eng. program added: “Jordan has been a great addition to our team. His comprehensive technical background and desire to constantly learn and improve, combined with his innate ability to interact and communicate with our students are extremely valuable to the program.”
Of the experience so far, McMahan says “working with students on a diverse set of projects has been really rewarding. I’m always presented with technical challenges, and therefore constantly learning something new.”
In his free time, McMahan enjoys practicing martial arts (currently Aikido; Karate in the past), cooking, and snowboarding in the winter. He is also currently learning guitar.
A life/career lesson that infuses McMahan’s work is: “The best thing you can be is prepared, and the best way to be prepared is by constantly improving yourself. A favorite quote that helps inspire McMahan in work and life is: “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” -Richard Feynman
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