Rate My Professor Chris Howard

Conjoint Professor Chris Howard serves as an Honorary Professor in the School of Engineering within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He holds a Doctor of Science from the University of Melbourne and a diploma in management. His career trajectory includes leading research groups and sections at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) from 1980 to 1997, where he advanced neutron diffraction techniques. Howard has limited but notable teaching experience, having delivered the course 'Diffraction and Phase Transitions' to Part II and Part III tripos students in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge.

Howard's research expertise centers on the crystallography of minerals, ceramics, and inorganic compounds, applications of group theory in crystallography, and crystal structure-property relationships. He co-authored the book 'Applications of Neutron Powder Diffraction' with Erich Kisi (2008), chapters including 'Neutron powder diffraction' (2019) and 'Crystal Structures of Zirconia Phases and Their Inter-relation' (1998). His highly cited paper 'Structures and phase transitions in perovskites - a group-theoretical approach' with H.T. Stokes (Acta Crystallographica A, 2005) has amassed over 220 Web of Science citations, highlighting his impact on understanding phase transitions in materials. Other key publications include 'Verification of the elastic constants for α-Al₂O₃ using high-resolution neutron diffraction' (2011), 'On the tetragonal phase of sodium bismuth titanate, Na₀.₅Bi₀.₅TiO₃ (NBT)' (2015), 'A study of the octahedral tilting / cooperative Jahn-Teller transition in (Sr₀.₈Ce₀.₂)MnO₃' (2008), and contributions to studies on zirconolite crystal chemistry (2006). Howard received the ANBUG Award for Sustained Contribution in 2010. He has obtained grants such as $363,000 from the Australian Research Council (2009, investigator), $5,143 from ANSTO (2011, lead), and $1,500 from the University of Newcastle (2011, lead), supporting research on charge order transitions and materials synthesis.