Bob received his A.B (1954), M.A. (1956) and Ph.D. (1959) degrees from Columbia. He did his dissertation research with Benjamin P. Dailey in the area of Microwave Spectroscopy (Thesis: The microwave spectrum and structure of pyrimidine). He went on to do postdoctoral research at the Brookhaven National Laboratories with William (Buck) Rubinson from 1958 to 1960, when he joined the faculty of the State University College on Long Island (SUCoLI was later expanded and renamed the State University of New York at Stony Brook which is now, Stony Brook University).

While Bob has been a faculty member at Stony Brook since 1960, he also served in a variety of administrative positions related to research at Stony Brook for almost 30 years (1973 - 2002). His most recent past administrative role was as Director of Informatics and Compliance in the Office of the Vice President for Research. He was responsible for the collection, maintenance and dissemination of information about all aspects of the campus' research activities. His other responsibilties dealt with compliance in the areas of Human Subjects, Laboratory Animals, Biological Safety, Radiation Safety, Conflict of Interest and Scholarly Misconduct. He maintained a web site dealing with all types of information about research administration - the predecessor to the current OVPR website.

In January 2003, Bob retired from the administration and returned to full-time teaching in the Department of Chemistry.

During his administrative years, in his faculty capacity, he created the original WWW site for the Department of Chemistry. and taught Introductory Chemistry Laboratory for which he also created, and still maintains, WWW sites.(CHE 133 - CHE 134). In his earlier days, he taught a wide variety of courses, both undergraduate and graduate including introductory chemistry, solution chemistry, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and thermodyanmics. He particularly enjoyed creating a continuing education course called Chemistry in Human Culture, in which he explored the involvement of Chemistry in all sorts of human endeavor, from the arts to the kitchen.

His research at Stony Brook was primarily in Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectroscopy. He was interested in inorganic cluster compounds (particularly the Mo₆Cl₈⁺ⁿ and Nb₆Cl₁₂⁺ⁿ systems), and in solid state phase transitions. He also did some theoretical work in solid state NMR. Bob is particularly proud of three graduate students with whom he had the good fortune to collaborate back in the "good old days":

Ray Mackay (Ph.D., 1966), who is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Clarkson U., Potsdam NY and recently retired from his position as Director of Research and Technology at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center. Ray was the first person to receive a Doctorate from Stony Brook in 1966. His thesis research was on Spectral and Chemical Studies of Niobium and Molybdenum Cluster Compounds.

Ray was honored at Stony Brook's 2006 Graduate Commencement and Hooding Ceremony on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his doctorate.

In addition to his faculty responsibilities, Bob was a member of the University at Stony Brook's adminstration between 1973 and 2002, serving as Associate Vice Provost for Research (1973 - 1991), and for two years, simultaneously as Acting Vice Provost for Computing and Communications (1986 - 1988) as well as other positions ( Acting Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies, Acting Vice Provost for Research, Operations Manager of the Research Foundation of SUNY, Associate Provost for Research Administration) at various times.

Here is a picture of Bob in one of his recent and current roles - Safety Warden for the 5th floor South of the Chemistry building.

In 1985, Pres. Marburger asked Bob to be Stony Brook's representative to a meeting to discuss a statewide initiative to provide high speed networking to the research universities in New York State. That meeting resulted in the creation of NYSERNet. From 1986-1987, Bob served as (founding) Vice President, and member of the Executive Committee of New York State Education and Research Network, Inc. (NYSERNet), non-profit corporation created to construct and manage a high speed state-wide data processing network for access to supercomputing and other research and education-related computing facilities.

From 1988 - 1991, He was a member of Federal Demonstration Project Task Force on Campus implementation of FDP, a national initiative led by the National Science Foundation to improve and simplify the university-federal interaction in procurement and assistance of research. Bob was a member of "Newton's Raiders", a group of research admininstrators who succeeded in introducing a number of simplifications into the federal grant process under the direction of Robert Newton - former head of NSF's Policy Office. That initiative continues today and has grown into the Federal Demonstration Partnership.

Bob was a recipient of President's and Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in Teaching in 2001, joining seven of his colleagues in Chemistry who have earned that distinction.

In the Fall of 2007, Bob was diagnosed with. and treated for, tonsillar cancer. In September, 2008, Bob retired from the University, but continues to be involved in teaching on a part time basis.

He can be reached by email here.

The following dispel two common misconceptions about Bob:

• Misconception 1
• Misconception 2

This is his family:

• Daughter, Audrey - B.S. (USB, 1986); M.P.A. (North Carolina State University), M.B.A. (North Carolina State University) is a Product Planner with LexisNexis
• Son-in-law, Sal Mungal - B.S., Biology (USB, 1984) and M.S. Oral Biology & Pathology (USB, 1992), works at the Bioinformatics Shared Resource of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center in Durham, NC. Sal did research with David Williams, Felix Rapaport, Ed Reich and Lorne Taichman during his years at Stony Brook.
• Audrey and Sal have two children, Olivia - Born 1986 who graduated North Carolina State University at Greensboro and Daniel - Born 1994

• Son David - B.S., Electrical Engineering (USB, 1996), working at Linear Technology Corporation in Cary, NC. David did research with the Likharev Group in Physics as an undergraduate.
• Daughter-in-law Heather (nee Anderson) with David
  • David and Heather have two children, Mitchell - Born 1995 and Calvin - Born 1997

• Son Scott - working at Alcatel-Lucent, formerly, the Internetworking Systems Division of Lucent Technologies, formerly Ascend Communications, formerly Stony Brook Software.
• Daughter-in-law Kerry (nee Mehrman) who received an Associates Degree from Suffolk County Community College and will soon graduate from St. Joseph's College
  • Scott and Kerry have two children, Andrew - Born 2001 and Emily Elizabeth - Born 2003.

Bob is a founding member of the Wednesday Philosophical Society, a group which has either created or resolved some of the world's major problems at its regular meetings since 1991. The members are not listed to save them from any public humiliation, but they include a variety of family members, inlaws, outlaws and colleagues.

Update: 2009-11-05