Dr. Mark James Jackson is the McCune and Middlekauff Endowed Professor and University Faculty Fellow at Kansas State University. Born in Widnes, Lancashire, England, in 1967, De. Jackson began his engineering career in 1983 when he studied for his Ordinary National Certificate Part I examinations and first-year apprenticeship-training course in mechanical engineering. After gaining an Ordinary National Diploma in Engineering with Distinction and the ICI Prize for Achievement, he studied for a degree in mechanical and manufacturing engineering at Liverpool Polytechnic and spent periods in industry working for ICI Pharmaceuticals and ICI Chemicals and Polymers, Unilever Industries, Anglo Blackwells, BREL/Ricardo, Leyland Bus, Rolls-Royce, Rio Tinto Zinc, Unicorn International, and Saint-Gobain Corporation. After graduating with a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree with Distinction under the supervision of Professor Jack Schofield, MBE, Dr Jackson subsequently conducted research for the Ph.D. degree at Liverpool in the field of materials engineering, focusing primarily on microstructure–property relationships in vitreous-bonded abrasive materials under the supervision of Professors Benjamin Mills and H. Peter Jost, CBE, Hon. F.R.Eng. He was subsequently employed by Unicorn Abrasives’ Central Research & Development Laboratory (Saint-Gobain Abrasives’ Group) as materials technologist, then technical manager, responsible for product and new business development in Europe, and university liaison projects concerned with abrasive process development. Dr Jackson then became a research fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, working with Professor John Field, OBE, FRS, and Professor David Tabor, FRS, on condensed matter physics and tribology, before becoming a lecturer in engineering at the University of Liverpool in 1998. At Liverpool, he attracted a number of research grants concerned with developing innovative manufacturing processes, for which he was jointly awarded an Innovative Manufacturing Technology Centre from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in November 2001. In 2002, he became associate professor of mechanical engineering and faculty associate in the Center for Manufacturing Research, Center for Electric Power, and Center for Water Resources and Utilization at Tennessee Technological University (an associated university of Oak Ridge National Laboratory), and a faculty associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Jackson was the academic adviser to the Formula SAE Team at Tennessee Technological University. At Tennessee Technological University, Dr. Jackson established the NSF Geometric Design and Manufacturing Integration Laboratory. Dr. Jackson also collaborated with Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Harold Kroto, FRS, editing a book, Surface Engineered Surgical Tools and Medical Devices, and a special issue of the International Journal of Nanomanufacturing on “Nanofabrication of Novel Carbon Nanostructures and Nanocomposite Films.” Dr. Jackson was appointed a member of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) International Commission for the Development of the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems Theme on “Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies” (http://m-press.ru/English/nano/index.html), and still serves in this capacity. The first edition of the encyclopedia was published 2009 and the second in 2018. Dr. Jackson also conducts teaching and research in the area of naval architecture. In 2015 and 2020, Dr. Jackson was awarded the Certificate and Diploma in Naval Architecture from the Lloyd’s Maritime Academy, London, UK. He also conducts work on aspects of laser welding and deposition of thick film coatings in the shipbuilding process.
