Member Profile

William H. Robinson received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in 1996 and his M.S. in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in 1998. He received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech in 2003. He is currently a tenured Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Also, he also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Success in the School of Engineering.

Dr. Robinson leads lead the Security And Fault Tolerance (SAF-T) Research Group (SAF-T is pronounced “safety”), whose mission is to design, model, verify, and implement robust computing systems that positively benefit stakeholders with consumer, defense, industrial, and medical applications. Dr. Robinson co-leads the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative (EDEFI) (pronounced “edify”). EDEFI investigates the institutional, technical, social, and cultural factors that affect the decision-making, career choices, and career satisfaction for doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty who have been marginalized by race and/or gender.

Major honors include selection for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Computer Science Study Panel, both in 2008. Dr. Robinson is a Senior Member of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).