Yesterday, UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang sent out the following announcement about the passing of Professor Emeritus Noel MacDonald.

June 29, 2022

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

I am very saddened to share with you the news that Professor Emeritus Noel MacDonald passed away on May 18.

Professor MacDonald joined our faculty in Mechanical Engineering and Materials in 2000. I remember in 1999, upon the recommendation of our faculty, I went to an IEEE conference in San Francisco to meet Professor MacDonald to invite him to join our university. During that conversation, he told me he knew our engineering faculty well, he appreciated our highly collaborative and interdisciplinary culture, and he was interested in joining us to help lead the efforts of a group of professors and students to pioneer the field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology and nanotechnology at UCSB.

Noel made outstanding contributions to the field he pioneered. He was a brilliant researcher, an inspirational teacher and mentor, and a dedicated colleague who helped to advance the stature of our university.

Our hearts go out to his wife, Karen, and their family, as well as all of his colleagues, friends, and former students around the world. Our campus flag will be lowered in Noel’s honor tomorrow, June 30.

I am honored to share the following tribute from Chair Jeff Moehlis and our Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Read Professor MacDonald's obituary.