Rate My Professor Ronald MacDonald

Emeritus Professor Ronald James MacDonald holds the position of Emeritus Professor in the Vice-Chancellor's Division at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He obtained his BSc and PhD from the University of New South Wales and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics (FAIP). Appointed to the Chair of Professor of Physics in 1980, he delivered his inaugural lecture and served as Head of the Department of Physics. Throughout his career, he held significant administrative roles, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), President of the Academic Senate, and Director of The University of Newcastle Research Associates (TUNRA). He represented the University as a Councillor on the Australian Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) council and chaired the committee for the establishment of Wollotuka, the University's Indigenous support service. Additionally, he contributed to the physics community as Editor of the Australian Institute of Physics Journal and participated in international workshops and conferences on nuclear physics and surface analysis.

Professor MacDonald's research specialization in surface physics encompasses ion scattering spectrometry, low-energy ion scattering (LEIS) for quantitative surface composition analysis, outer shell excitations during ion bombardment, and surface reconstructions such as the p4g and clock reconstructions on metals like Pd(001). Notable publications include 'Ion scattering spectrometry' (Australian Journal of Physics, 1980), 'Outer shell excitation during ion bombardment' (Nuclear Instruments and Methods, 1982), 'Problems of Quantitative Surface Composition Analysis Using LEIS' (Springer, 1991), 'Application of Ion Scattering to Alloy Surface Composition' (Surface Review and Letters, 1996), 'The role of interfacial strain in the surface p4g reconstruction' (Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 1997), and 'Aluminum-induced surface clock reconstruction of Pd(001) and the energetics of Al/Pd(001)' (Physical Review B, 1997). His scholarly output, documented on Scopus with over 1,500 citations, has advanced techniques in ion beam surface analysis and alloy surface studies, influencing materials science and physics research.