born in brevard, north carolina, mcdaniel attended chesterville high school in ohio. after graduating in 1933, he attended ohio wesleyan university, from which he graduated in 1938 with a bachelor of science. his initial postgraduate studies took place at the case school of applied science, graduating with a master's degree in 1940. mcdaniel continued postgraduate studies when he moved to cornell university, and in 1943 he completed his doctoral thesis, examining the absorption rates of neutrons in indium. the research was not classified, but mcdaniel and robert bacher, his adviser at cornell, marked it as "secret" on their own initiative. from cornell, mcdaniel moved to mit where he held a postdoctoral position, studying "the rapidly evolving field of fast electronics", which he applied to research in particle physics.