Mark McKinney
Department Head and Professor
The Citadel
Dr. Mark McKinney joined the faculty at The Citadel in 1997. He received his Ph.D. from The University of South Carolina in 1999 where he conducted research with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, GE, and Westinghouse in the modeling and use of conductive polymers for power systems protection devices.
While at The Citadel he has taught nearly 3/4 of the courses offered in the electrical and computer engineering curriculum but has focused on electronics, power electronics, measurements and instrumentation, and power systems. In addition, Dr. McKinney helped start the Citadel robotics summer camps and the eWeek robotics competitions. He has also worked with the School of Education to help bring engineering and robotics programs to students at underserved schools.
In addition to teaching, Dr. McKinney has worked with the University of South Carolina studying shipboard circuit protection systems and with the Space and Naval Warfare Center, Atlantic studying emerging technologies for the first responder community. In 2013, Dr. McKinney was awarded a full-year sabbatical to work with Clemson University helping to design the system to control the Duke Energy eGRID lab in North Charleston and continued to work with Clemson in the design and operation of the facility until he took over as the head of the department in 2021. In his time as department head, he has been active with both SECEDHA and ECEDHA, serving on the 2023 Program Committee for the Annual conference.