Professor Ron White is the Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at James Cook University. He was previously the Head of Physical Sciences Academic Group which hosts the Mathematics, Data Science, Chemistry and Physics disciplines, and the Research Director for the College of Science, Technology and Engineering.
His research areas are diverse ranging from the application of low-temperature plasmas and antimatter for medical diagnostics and treatments, to opto-electronic properties of organic semiconductors for solar cells, light emitting diodes and lasers. He also has research programs focused on the application of NIR spectroscopy and vision systems and is current chair of Rapid Assessment Unit (RAU) – a collaborative venture between JCU and Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries focused on the development of non-invasive technologies for primary industries. Professor White has been continuously funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) since 2005 through various ARC schemes including the Centres of Excellence, Discovery Projects, Industrial Transformation Hub and Linkage Project. In addition, his research has been funded from industry through various schemes including CRC, QLD Smart State and others. He has been a Chief Investigator within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies where he was a member of the COE Executive and a Theme Leader. He is currently a CI on the ARC Research Hub for Supercharging Tropical Aquaculture (https://www.jcu.edu.au/arcsta). He sits on the Editorial Board for Nature Publishing’s Scientific Reports and for Springer-Nature’s E Phys. Journal D.