Ron Rogge visiting his old lab, 26.03.1996

Ron(ald) B. Rogge B.Sc. (Honours) 1987 (Brock), M.Sc. 1990 (Brock), Ph.D. 1994 (McMaster)

As for many of Brock's alumni, the small size of Brock University always held an appeal for me. Since my major was in Physics (a typically small department in most Universities) the Physics Department proved to be particularly small. The direct interaction with the professors that this allows is rare in larger universities. More specifically, I inevitably had some professors teaching me courses each and every year of my undergraduate studies, which naturally resulted in them becoming unofficial guardians of my scholastic career. In particular I am indebted to Dr. B. Mitrovic for his support and encouragement throughout my years at Brock.

I completed my Honours B.Sc. degree in 1987. My undergraduate research project dealt with the interfacing of computers to experimental apparatus for undergraduate lab courses. This was done at a time in which this approach was not so prevalent as it has become today. The project has proven invaluable to me and I continue to benefit from the basics I learned under the supervision of Dr. J.A. Moore. I then remained at Brock to pursue a Masters degree under the enthusiastic supervision of Dr. F.S. Razavi, which I completed in 1990. Once again my project involved a computer controlled experiment, but the considerably more ambitious undertaking of developing a system for performing Specific Heat Capacity measurements of small samples over an extended temperature range. From this work I gained great deal of experience in the art-of-experimentation: experience I may well not have had the luxury to obtain at universities which aspire to higher throughputs of Masters students.

In 1990 I entered the Ph.D. program in physics at McMaster University to work with Dr. B.D. Gaulin. At McMaster my work centred around the exploitation of neutron scattering techniques for the study of phase transitions in condensed matter. One of the great advantages of these experiments is that they require nuclear reactors and therefore it was necessary for me travel to various world class facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Chalk River Laboratories. Here I was able to interact with top scientists from around the world gaining yet more valuable experience.

My interactions with the staff at Chalk River Laboratories of AECL Research have proven most fruitful as I received an offer for a post-doctoral position over a year in advance of completing my Ph.D. I am presently employed in this position which is with the ANDI (Applied Neutron Diffraction for Industry) subgroup of the Neutron and Condensed Matter Branch. The focus of this group is to utilize the unique ability of neutrons to probe deeply into full scale industrial components and perform a variety of typically non-destructive measurements. Among these are strain and residual stress of such items as train rails, the booster rocket casing of the Space Shuttle Columbia and many internal components of nuclear reactors such as CANDU designs. The group also specializes in such diverse applications as texture measurements and in situ temperature profiles of moving parts. The entire group is continuously developing new applications of neutron scattering and presently my primary project involves developing the technique and analysis for performing strain and residual stress measurements very close to the material's surface, thus covering the region between those for which X-rays are easily applied (below 0.1mm from the surface) and neutrons are traditionally used (at depths greater than 1mm).

On the personal side of life I have recently married (October of 1992) and in December of 1993 my wife Denise gave birth to our baby Renee, providing my step daughter Michelle with a little sister. I enjoy various activities and have returned to teaching Alpine skiing on the side after an hiatus during my graduate studies.

I very much enjoy my work at AECL and strongly feel that my training in neutron scattering at McMaster was by no means the sole factor that lead to my employment with the company. Rather I feel the experience and encouragement to explore new ways to do things that I received at Brock was also instrumental and continues to benefit my work everyday. Despite the slings and arrows that many Brock graduates will tell you they have to endure, I have always been and will always be, proud of my Brock degrees and grateful for the training I received there.

Ron Rogge, 15-March-1994

Division of Condensed Matter Physics of the CAP awarded its 1996 prize for the best paper on condensed matter physics to:

R.B. Rogge, B.D. Gaulin, E.C. Svensson, E.D. Hallman, and W. Wei
Neutron Scattering in Cu₃Au: Evidence for a lower spinodal temperature
Can. J. Phys., 73:779, (1995)