Dr. Brian MacDonald is an experienced patent agent proficient in writing patent applications and pursuing patents in a wide range of technologies. Brian began his career as a U.S. Patent Examiner and has since served on the client-service side of patent work for more than 20 years. He long ago taught physics at Georgia Tech, UCLA, and more recently at Gardner Webb University to support the faculty during the pandemic, and has volunteered with his son at Discovery Place in uptown Charlotte as an instructor of solar pyrography bringing together art and science.
Brian earned a PhD from the Georgia Tech through research in experimental nuclear physics conducted at many U.S. national laboratories, traveling with international teams of scientists. At Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), Brian assembled, calibrated and operated complex arrays of gamma-ray and particle detectors. He worked directly with the world’s first segmented germanium clover array and helped commission the Recoil Mass Spectrometer (RMS) of ORNL, the most advanced heavy-ion mass spectrometer of its time. He smashed atoms and worked extensively with high-vacuum systems and nitrogen and helium cooling systems. Prior to these experiences, Brian manufactured radioactive calibration standards, automated electron-beam welding procedures for their manufacture, and coded software for controlling robotic remote manipulators.
- Education
- Ph.D. Experimental Nuclear Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Admission
- United States Patent and Trademark Office