Meet the Dean

Dean Robert H. Bishop

About the Dean 

Dr. Robert H. Bishop is the vice chancellor and dean for the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University and director for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.

Bishop was dean of the College of Engineering at The University of South Florida, where he founded a non-profit start-up awarded more than $100 million in Department of Defense contracts. Bishop also has extensive experience working with NASA. 

“Returning to Texas A&M to help build the future of this outstanding program is an opportunity I have worked toward all my life,” Bishop said. “I can’t wait to get started. From working with NASA to build the Texas A&M Space Institute, to working with the Department of Defense and the Army Futures Command to protect our nation, to finding and developing the brightest minds in Texas with our Engineering Academies, there is just so much potential here.”

Bishop was born near Aviano Air Base in Italy and grew up as a military dependent in Germany. He attended Texas A&M with a dream of working for NASA. With the help of his professors, Bishop’s dream came true — he later worked on NASA’s Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology project, which will inform all future space missions requiring precision landing.

As the first person in his family to finish college, Bishop depended heavily on scholarships as an undergraduate. His intellect and drive quickly caught the attention of his professors. While at Texas A&M, Bishop was selected to be a co-operative engineering student at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Bishop graduated with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M before earning his Ph.D. at Rice University in electrical and computer engineering.

Bishop went on to work at The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, focusing on guidance and navigation systems and serving as an on-site resident at the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Mission Planning & Analysis Division.

In 1990, he became a faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Aerospace Engineering & Engineering Mechanics. He quickly rose through the ranks to hold an endowed position and served as department chair. Bishop then became the dean of engineering at Marquette University in 2010 and was selected to lead The University of South Florida’s College of Engineering in 2014.