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Roberto was cited for his "exceptional service to the materials research community through leadership in research administration, professional society governance and national scientific committees."
He joined ORNL in 1974 and has been Solid State Division director since 1990. Roberto is responsible for a broad interdisciplinary research program in materials physics, including solid state theory, neutron scattering, synchrotron X-ray and photo research, surface and interface science, ion beam and laser processing, superconductivity, and the synthesis and processing of advanced materials.
Roberto has published more than 60 research articles and edited three books about X-ray and neutron scattering, particle-surface interactions, and ion beam and plasma processing. He has chaired many national and international conferences, and has been a guest scientist at Kernforschungsanlage Juelich and the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik in Germany. He was named ORNL manager of the year in 1997.
He is vice chair of the Committee on Condensed Matter and Materials Physics of the National Research Council, and a member of the Solid State Sciences Committee of the National Research Council, and Materials Science Council of the Southeastern Universities Research Association. He was chair of the Division of Materials Physics of the American Physical Society in 1997, and president of the Materials Research Society in 1991. He has served on the editorial advisory board of The Journal of Nuclear Materials and is chairman of the advisory review board of The Journal of Materials Research.
Roberto graduated with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a doctorate in applied physics from Cornell University.
He and his wife, Jane, reside in Farragut. They have two sons, Andrew and Timothy.
ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation.