Rate My Professor Paul Roe

Professor Paul Roe is a prominent figure in science and engineering, particularly in computer science and ecoacoustics. He obtained his MEng degree from the University of York in 1987 and his PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1991. Currently, he serves as Dean of Research at James Cook University, where he oversees research infrastructure and research engagement across the institution. Prior to this role, Roe was a full professor in the Faculty of Science at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, and Head of the School of Computer Science. During his tenure at QUT, he founded and led the Microsoft-QUT eResearch Centre, a key collaboration between the Queensland State Government, Microsoft Research, and QUT, aimed at developing smart tools for eResearch applications.

Roe's research specializations include grid computing, programming languages, software engineering, web services, eScience, distributed computing, and systems software. He has made pioneering contributions to ecoacoustics through projects such as the Open Ecoacoustics initiative and the Australian Acoustic Observatory, which facilitate large-scale ecological acoustic monitoring and innovative technologies for environmental assessment, including support for communication in remote Aboriginal communities. Roe has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers. Key publications encompass 'The use of acoustic indices to determine avian species richness in audio-recordings of the environment' (Towsey et al., 2014), 'Sampling environmental acoustic recordings to determine bird species richness' (Wimmer et al., 2013), 'A toolbox for animal call recognition' (Towsey et al., 2012), 'Towards an acoustic environmental observatory' (Mason et al., 2008), and 'Sensor Network for the Monitoring of Ecosystem: Bird Species Recognition' (Cai et al., 2007). He has secured more than $10 million in competitive research funding, with 50% from category one sources, supervised more than 21 research students to completion, and organized numerous conferences, exerting substantial influence on eScience and ecological monitoring fields.