Robinson is an associate professor of electrical engineering
and computer engineering. His former roles in the school include associate
chair of the EECS department and director of undergraduate studies for
electrical engineering and computer engineering. He was the first African
American to earn promotion and win tenure in the Vanderbilt University School
of Engineering.
Robinson, a member of the university’s Committee on
Diversity, Inclusion and Community, which Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas S.
Zeppos named in the fall semester, will work with the dean to provide
leadership in advancing the school’s inclusive, diverse and equitable academic
culture.
“I recently heard a powerful definition for diversity,
‘Those differences that carry social and historical significance in the modern
world,’ from Kecia Thomas, a psychology professor at the University of
Georgia,” Robinson said. “I believe that definition provides the perspective to
guide me in my new role.”
Robinson, who is a member of the National Association of
Diversity Officers in Higher Education, said, “I have a tremendous opportunity
to provide leadership for initiatives that foster a diverse and inclusive
environment for our faculty, students and staff within the school, and I look
forward to working with colleagues across the university through the Office of
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to provide sustained impact that supports
Vanderbilt’s commitment to a culture that values difference and embraces
inclusion.”
Robinson joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science as an assistant professor in 2003 and was promoted to
associate professor in 2010. He earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from
Florida A&M University. Robinson then went on to receive an M.S. in
electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from
Georgia Tech
His research focus includes computer architecture and
reliable and secure hardware design. His work resides in two of the school’s
nine intellectual neighborhoods—risk and reliability, and cyber-physical
systems.
Robinson leads the university’s Security and Fault Tolerance
Research Group, whose mission is to conduct transformational research that
addresses the reliability and security of computing systems. He collaborates
with both the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics and the Institute for
Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt. He participated with the Team for
Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology, a National Science Foundation Science
and Technology Center, where he served as the outreach director. He also
investigates the institutional, technical, social and cultural factors that
impact the current underrepresentation of African Americans in engineering
faculty positions.
Robinson’s major honors include a NSF Faculty Early Career
Development Program Award and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Computer Science Study Panel, both in 2008. He is a senior member of both the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for
Computing Machinery. He is a member of the American Society for Engineering
Education and is a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers.
Robinson is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a member of
The 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Inc.