Ronald “Ron” Roy, Ph.D.

Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships

Ronald “Ron” Roy, Ph.D.
Email: ronald.roy@maine.edu
Title: Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships

Education

• MA ad eundem, University of Oxford, 2006 
• Ph.D. Engineering & Applied Science (Mech. Eng.), Yale University, 1987
• M.Phil. Engineering & Applied Science (Mech. Eng.), Yale University, 1985
• M.S. Physics, University of Mississippi, 1984 
• B.S. Engineering Physics (Elect. Eng.), University of Maine, 1981 

Research Interests: 

• Physical acoustics – the physics of sound generation, propagation, and interaction with matter
• The interaction of light with sound, photoacoustic sensing and imaging
• Acoustic cavitation and bubble dynamics – the detection and dynamics of transient cavitation
• Bubble-mediated medical ultrasonics, specifically the role played by bubbles in diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound, endodontic scaling, and extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy
• Novel applications of high-intensity ultrasound to problems in industry and medicine
• Gene transfection by ultrasound
• Sonoluminescence, sonochemistry, and the physics of high-energy cavity implosion
• Underwater and ocean acoustics, bubble-related ambient noise and sound scattering
• Fluid mechanics, in particular the properties of two-phase flows
• Nonlinear acoustics and the interaction of sound with sound
• Particle characterization by scattered ultrasound
• Neutron dosimetry using superheated drops

Ronald Roy received a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of Maine, an M.S. in Physics from the University of Mississippi, and the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University. He formerly served as the Head of the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, as a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University, as a Senior Physicist at the Applied Physics Laboratory and an Associate Research Professor of Bioengineering, both at the University of Washington, and on the research staff at the National Center for Physical Acoustics, University of Mississippi. In 2006-2007 he served as the 65th George Eastman Distinguished Visiting Professor at Balliol College and the University of Oxford. Professor Roy was the first Engineer to be named Eastman Professor and the first American to lead Engineering Science at Oxford. He retired from his Oxford post in 2025 and now resides in the U.S. 

Trained as a physicist and an engineer, Prof. Roy specializes in the application of physical acoustics principles to problems in biomedical acoustics, industrial ultrasonics, and acoustical oceanography — however, his true passion is the acoustics of bubbles and bubbly media. Sonoluminescence (light from sound), acoustic cavitation dynamics, shock-driven cavity collapse physics, and bubble-mediated therapeutic ultrasonics are topics of past and current interest. Most recently, he joined colleagues in developing new techniques for imaging the optical properties of soft tissues through the nonlinear interaction of light and sound (acousto-optic imaging) and is currently exploring novel ways in which nanoparticles can be used in conjunction with laser illumination and high-intensity focused ultrasound to facilitate both optical imaging and focused ultrasound surgery. Professor Roy has served on numerous professional society committees, review panels, editorial boards, and was a past Editor-inChief of Acoustics Research Letters Online (now called JASA Express Letters). He is a Fellow and former Vice President of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and a recipient of the ASA Helmholtz-Rayleigh Interdisciplinary Silver Medal, and a Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Engineering.

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