Robert Hampshire

Robert Hampshire is the Executive Director of the Research Development Office (RDO). In this role, his primary goal is to enhance the University’s overall research impact across all its colleges and campuses. This includes a particular focus on supporting grant proposals for large-scale, interdisciplinary research initiatives and overseeing strategic growth initiatives across the institution. A core goal is building robust strategic partnerships that connect the broad UMN community with external partners. Robert is dedicated to fostering collaborations that bridge academia, industry, nonprofits, NGOs, and various government agencies.

This vision for high-impact, collaborative research is deeply informed by Robert’s extensive prior career in both public service and the academic sector. Before joining the University of Michigan faculty, he was an assistant professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at the H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University. In January 2021, he was sworn in to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and served as the department's Chief Science Officer, becoming the first to fill the role in over 40 years. In this capacity, he performed the duties of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, leading the DOT’s over $2 billion research and technology portfolio. Robert oversaw key offices including the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and the University Transportation Centers grant program. He returned to his faculty position at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan in January 2025. His research, which is supported by the National Science Foundation, focuses on the management, modeling, and optimization of services. He received his PhD in operations research and financial engineering from Princeton University in 2007 and has also held faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University and as a visiting professor at MIT.