Professor / Head of School

Paul Munroe

Contact Details

Building/Room number: 

E10 / 343

Telephone: 

+61 (0)2 9385 4432

Facsimile: 

+61 (0)2 9385 6565

Email: 

p.munroe@unsw.edu.au

Professional Experience: 

  • Head of School and Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW Australia, 2013 – present
  • Director and Professor, Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW, 2003- 2013
  • Director and Associate Professor, Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW, 1998-2003
  • Deputy Director and Senior Lecturer, Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW, 1995-1998
  • Senior Lecturer, Monash University, 1994-1995
  • Director, Physical Sciences Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW, 1990-1994
  • Research Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College, 1987-1990

Education: 

  • Grad. Dip. H. Ed (1998) – The University of New South Wales
  • PhD in Metallurgy and Materials (1987) – University of Birmingham
  • B.Sc (Hons.) in Metallurgy and Materials (1984) – University of Birmingham

Research Contributions: 

Most significant contributions are in the field of microstructure-property relationships in advanced engineering materials. Areas of research include functional thin films, intermetallic alloys, advanced metal-matrix composites, thermal spray materials, surface modification of materials and biochars (see representative publications below)
 
Recognition of this includes: 400+ papers in international journals; 8000+ citations, career h-index 43, >$20M research funding since 2010, has supervised to completion 6 Higher Degree Students in the past 5 years.

Teaching Contributions: 

Courses taught are in the areas of electron microscopy, deformation and strengthening, semiconductor device fabrication and advanced alloys. Current teaching includes:

MATS2003: Materials Characterization

MATS3001: Micromechanisms of Mechanical Behaviour of Metals

Chief Investigator on a the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded grant – “A National Approach to Education in Advanced Microscopic Characterisation through Integrated Learning Tools” developing blended learning modules to teach microscopy methods.

Honours, Awards and Memberships: 

  • 1996 – Philips Cowley-Moodie award for Physical Sciences Electron Microscopy
  • 2003  – UNSW Vice- Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence (with M. Hoffman, A. Crosky & B. Allen)
  • 2007 – Carrick Citation – Carrick Australian Awards for University Teaching (with M. Hoffman, A. Crosky & B. Allen)
  • 2015-2017 - ARC College of Experts appointment

Editorial Activities: 

  • Associate Editor – ‘Materials Characterization’ (IF = 1.925)
  • Editorial boards of ‘Microscopy Research and Technique’, ‘Research Letters in Materials Science’, ‘Advances in Materials Science’, 'Journal of Nanomaterials"

Selected Publications: 

  1. “The Mechanical Properties of FeAl”, I. Baker and P.R. Munroe, International Materials Reviews, 42, 181-205 (1997).
  2. “Mechanical Deformation of Silicon by Micro-indentation”, J.E. Bradby, J.S. Williams, J. Wong-Leung, M.V. Swain and P.R. Munroe. J. Mater. Res., 16, 1500-1507, (2001).
  3. “Enhancement of the Critical Current Density and Flux Pinning of Superconductor MgB2 by Nanoparticle SiC Doping”, S.X. Dou, S. Soltanian, J. Horvat, X.L. Wang, P.R. Munroe, S.H. Zhou, M. Ionescu, H.K. Liu, and M. Tomsic, Applied Physics Letters, 81, 3419-3421, (2002).
  4. “FIB-induced Damage in Silicon”, by S. Rubanov and P. R. Munroe, J. Microscopy, 214, 213-221, (2004).
  5. “High transport critical current density and large Hc2 and Hirr in nanoscale SiC doped MgB2 wires sintered at low temperature”, S Soltanian, X L Wang, J Horvat, S X Dou, M D Sumption, M Bhatia, E W Collings, P Munroe and M Tomsic, Superconducting Science and Technology, 18, 658-666, (2005)
  6. “3D Microstructural Characterisation Using Focused Ion Beam Tomography”, M.D. Uchic, L. Hozler, B. Inkson, E.L. Principe and P.R. Munroe, MRS Bulletin, 32, pp. 408-416 (2007).
  7. “Contact Damage Evolution in Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) Coating on a Stainless Steel Substrate”, Z.-H. Xie, R. Singh, A. Bendavid, P. J. Martin, P. R. Munroe and M. Hoffman, Thin Solid Films, 515, pp. 3196-3201,  (2007).
  8. “Shear Banding and Recrystallization Texture Development in a Multilayered Al-alloy sheet produced by accumulative roll bonding”, M.Z. Quadir, M. Ferry, O. Al-Buhamad and P.R. Munroe, Acta Mater., 57, 29-40, (2009)
  9. “The roles of passive layers in regulating the electrochemical behavior of Ti5Si3-based nanocomposite films”, L. Lu, J. Xu, Z-H Xie and P. Munroe, J. Materials Chemistry A, 1, 2064, (2013)
  10. “Extremely hard, damage-tolerant ceramic coatings with functionally graded, periodically varying architecture”, P.C. Wo, X.L. Zhao, P.R. Munroe, Z.F. Zhou, K.Y. Li, D. Habibi, Z.H. Xie, Acta Mater., 61, 193, (2013).