Rate My Professor John Holdsworth

John Holdsworth is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Science (Physics) at the University of Newcastle, within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. He earned his PhD, Bachelor of Science (Honours), and Bachelor of Science from Griffith University, training as a molecular spectroscopist under Professor Alan Knight with a focus on laser applications such as laser isotope enrichment, multi-photon ionisation, laser ablation from liquids, cavity ringdown spectroscopy, collisional energy transfer in iodine, and laser induced chemical vapour deposition. Before entering academia full-time, he worked 12 years in industry as a Research, Sales and Service Engineer at Quentron Optics Pty Ltd and Sales and Service Manager at Spectra-Physics Pty Ltd. His academic appointments include Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines from 1995 to 2001, where he chaired the Physics Department for 18 months, and service on a UNESCO panel evaluating Physics and Physics Education in North Korea in 2000. At the University of Newcastle since 2001, he began as Lecturer in Photonics, advanced to Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and now holds his honorary role.

With 43 years of experience in molecular science, optical sources, equipment, detection, signal extraction, and amplification, Holdsworth's research specializations include conductive polymer characterisation, LIDAR, laser applications, lasers, optical physics, and photonics. He developed a LIDAR system during his time in the Philippines, leading to 22 conference papers and training of PhD and MSc students, and has collaborated with Swinburne University on doped glass behaviour, CSIRO and University of Newcastle Geography on LIDAR, the Priority Research Centre for Organic Electronics on conductive polymer dynamics, the Optical Fibre Technology Centre on gratings and ring lasers, and colleagues on two-photon microscopy. He established the B.Sc. (Photonics), B.Sc. (Hons) (Photonics), and Photonics major programs at Newcastle. His contributions earned the Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2006, Faculty of Science and Information Technology Teaching Award in 2004, and Honorary Professorship from University of Santo Tomas in 2017 for developing their BS Applied Physics program. Key publications comprise 'Gratings in photonic crystal and other structured optical fibres' (2010), 'Development of a 3D, fast-scanning LiDAR system for particulate matter visualisation' (2022), and 'Tomographic reconstruction of a sample in diffuse media via the radon transform' (2020). He belongs to the Optical Society of America, SPIE, Australian Institute of Physics, and Australian and New Zealand Optical Society.