Prof Raphael Mukaro, an associate professor in physics at the North-West University (NWU), has been recognised as a leading scholar by ScholarGPS. 

ScholarGPS is a comprehensive scholarly analytics platform that comprises powerful computational systems and processes.  It offers multi-level, quantitative rankings of individual scholars and institutions in terms of their productivity as well as the quality and impact of their scholarly work. 

Prof Mukaro is ranked 19th globally as a top scholar in the field of microcontrollers, with a total of 15 publications in this field, a total predicted citations of 304, and an overall predicted h-index of 6. 

He was recognised for his outstanding performance in microcontrollers, his strong publications record, the impact of his work, and the notable quality of his scholarly contributions that have placed him in the top 0,5% of scholars worldwide with respect to the field of microcontrollers.  

Microcontrollers are utilised in a wide range of automated products and devices, including automobile engine control systems, implantable medical devices, remote controls, office machines, appliances, power tools, toys and various other embedded systems. 

“I am thrilled and humbled to get a worldwide ranking in the field of microcontrollers,” says Prof Mukaro, who also received the 2005 Young Scientist of the Year Award for Zimbabwe – an award given for developing microcontroller-based measurement and control systems and associated supervisory software used for teaching and research in physics.  

“I am so privileged to be part of the NWU family, an institution that promoted me to the level of associate professor in 2022,” adds Prof Mukaro. 

He says he owes his successful academic career to his late supervisor and icon, Dr Xavier Francis Carelse, who introduced him to this exciting field way back in the nineties. Dr Carelse is also posthumously ranked 16th in the world for the same field, and both are the only African scholars in the top 63 in this field. 

Despite challenging academic encounters, Prof Mukaro’s hunger to succeed and contribute to new knowledge keeps him going, and he feels this achievement will inspire upcoming young academics.  

Prof Raphael Mukaro