Robert McGrath

Robert "Bob" T. McGrath has served as educator, researcher and executive administrator at several major universities and national laboratories.

Between 1996 and 2008, Bob served as tenured Professor and Senior Vice President for Research at Ohio State and before that as tenured Professor and Associate Vice President for Research at Penn State.

Bob has a strong track record of accomplishments working with federal agencies such as NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, DoD, and DHS, as well as on R&D partnerships with industry, IP management, technology transfer, economic development and job creation. While at Ohio State, he worked extensively with Ohio's U.S. Congressional delegation, with Democratic and Republican Governors, and the Ohio Board of Regents. He was formally appointed by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to serve on the Third Frontier Board managing the State's $2 billion technology-based investment fund for stimulating innovation and job creation. Leveraging against Third Frontier investments, Ohio State's industry funded R&D expenditures grew to over $120 million per year, surpassing MIT and Penn State, to make Ohio State at that time the nation's leading university in terms of industry sponsored R&D. During Dr. McGrath's tenure as Director, GTRI created over 500 new jobs, expanding its workforce to nearly 3,000 employees and its annual R&D expenditures to over $350M.

In 2015, after declining several overseas R&D leadership opportunities, Bob was recruited back to the University of Colorado and NREL to serve as RASEI Director, a position that he held until his retirement in 2021.

Dr. McGrath has contributed to the Nation's overall R&D Strategy by serving, for example, on the Defense Science Board's Strategic Planning Working Group for Technological Superiority in 2030, on the Secretary of Energy's Task Force for assessing National Laboratory management, investments and industry partnerships, or at various times representing his home institution on the management boards of NREL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory.

Throughout his career, Dr. McGrath has been passionate about STEM education. He actively contributed to K-12 education programs, and has incorporated graduate student internships into all of the R&D programs for which he has been responsible.

McGrath earned a Ph.D. in nuclear science and engineering from the University of Michigan and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Penn State University in engineering sciences (BS), mathematics (MA) and physics (MS). He has authored more than 60 journal publications, more than 80 published abstracts & conference presentations and numerous technical reports, often in collaboration with the many of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or junior researchers who have worked under his mentorship.

Bob and his wife Betsy have been married for over 40 years and are parents to two lovely (now adult) daughters.

Education McGrath holds four degrees; three are from Pennsylvania State University, including a 1972 B.S. (Honors) in engineering sciences, a 1974 M.S. in physics, and a 1975 M.A. in mathematics. He also holds a 1980 Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in nuclear science and engineering.

Research scientist From 1975 to 1976, McGrath was a Systems Engineer for HRB Singer, which is now a division of Raytheon. From February 2008 to March 2010, McGrath was the Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. From April 2010 to January 2011, McGrath was on the leadership team of Battelle Memorial Institute. From February 2011 to October 2014, McGrath was the director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute and a vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. In October 2014, he accepted a position as senior vice president in the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research at Georgia Tech. In this role, he was responsible for developing major research partnerships for Georgia Tech, in particular with the United States Department of Energy national laboratories. During 2022, McGrath became Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute Director.