Dr. Robert T. McGrath currently serves as Senior Vice President for Research at The Ohio State University where he is responsible for the University’s strategic research planning and for operation of the University’s half-billion dollar research program. He also holds appointments as Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Physics. Dr. McGrath previously served as Associate Vice President for Research and Director of Strategic and Interdisciplinary Initiatives at Penn State from 1999 to 2004. Beginning in 1998 and continuing into 2004, Dr. McGrath proudly held an appointment as Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and maintained continual involvement with students and sponsored research. Dr. McGrath previously served on the Nuclear Engineering faculty from 1980 through 1984.

Between 1984 and 1998, Dr. McGrath worked for Sandia National Laboratories as program coordinator, department manager and senior researcher for magnetic fusion technologies, microelectronics manufacturing, and advanced supercomputer applications. During that period he coordinated international collaborations on fusion plasma-materials research for U.S. partnerships with Japan, the European Union, and the former Soviet Union.

Dr. McGrath’s research involves plasma discharge diagnostics and computational modeling with applications to reactive chemistries used in microelectronic component manufacturing, micro-discharges and thin films for plasma driven flat panel displays, and control of high temperature plasmas for magnetic confinement fusion. He has authored more than 50 journal publications. Dr. McGrath earned three degrees during his five years of study at Penn State: a B.S. degree in Engineering Science (1972), an M.A. in Mathematics (1975), and an M.S. in Physics. He received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering (Plasma Physics) at the University of Michigan.

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