Welcome !

My name is Robert C. Roberts, I am a Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). My research innovates in the area of sensors, actuators, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), with an emphasis on additive microfabrication technologies for microsystems including inkjet printing, fused deposition modeling, and micro laser sintering.

Microelectromechanical Systems is a discipline of engineering which utilizes the materials and tools from the integrated circuit (IC) industry to build minute sensors, actuators, and systems. MEMS researcher are, by nature, hackers. We take technology designed for making transistors and repurpose it to build movable devices such as motors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, and microphones. You will find MEMS devices in your car, cell phone, computer, and video game systems.

A little about me: I grew up on a farm in Michigan where I spent much of my childhood taking things apart. I then attended CWRU where I received my B.S. and M.S. degrees in systems & control engineering in 2005 and 2006, respectively. My M.S. research focused on the development of software defined radio. I received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 2012 from CWRU, where I studied under the direction of Norman C. Tien. My Ph.D. dissertation is titled Inkjet Printed Au Nanoparticle Films for Microelectromechanical Systems. From September 2012 to December 2018 I expanded my research at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) as a postdoctoral research associate, research assistant professor, and lecturer. While at HKU, I also helped lead HKU’s entry in the US DARPA Robotics Challenge, which developed disaster relief solutions using a Boston Dynamics ATLAS humanoid robot. My present research expands on my initial inkjet-based additive microfabrication work to understand the processes, techniques, and materials necessary to build advanced microsystems using multiple manufacturing methods. My work has applications in healthcare, energy, and robotics.

Please take a moment to learn more about my research interests and publications using the links above. If you have any comments/questions about this website, MEMS, or myself, please feel free to contact me.