Richard Roberts
Phone: (610) 758-3848
Fax: (610) 758-6224 

Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics

Appointed to Lehigh Faculty: 1964

Education:
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University, 1964
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University, 1962
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, 1961

Related experience - teaching, industrial, etc.:
Assistant to Chief Engineer, Air Products and Chemicals, 1966-1967

Research activities, consulting, patents, etc.:
Research activities in the areas of machine design; design for assembly and manufacture; fatigue and fracture of metals; design of pressure vessels; fracture of structural welded details.

Technical and forensic engineering consultant to over 75 governmental and industry organizations.

Typical projects:

Assisted RCA Corporation in the design, construction and erection of the antenna on top of the World Trade Center, New York, NY.

Assisted I. M. Pei and Partners in the design and fitness for service review of the steel space frame at the J. Javits Convention Center in New York. Established requirements for the steel in the space frame nodes and negotiated with Japanese suppliers in Japan for their timely manufacture and delivery of the steel nodes to the convention center job site.

Lead investigator for Havens Steel in the collapse of the Sky Bridges in the Kansas City Hyatt Hotel. Havens was the fabricated steel supplier.

Conducted material evaluation for Amman and Whitney Consulting Engineers on the wrought iron support structure of the Statue of Liberty during the restoration of the statue.

Assisted Architect of the Capitol in evaluating and upgrading the wrought iron support structure of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Under contract to the Federal Highway Administration, prepared textbook, selected instructors, organized class material and taught a course on fracture mechanics for bridge design for all federal highway bridge engineers as well as a significant number of state bridge engineers.

Scientific and professional societies of which a member:
ASME
ASTM
ASM
AWS
ASEE
AAUP
Pi Tau Sigma
Tau Beta Pi

Honors and awards:
1971 W. Sparagen Award of the American Welding Society for the best research paper in the 1971 Welding Journal (1972)
Second Award - Division 2 - Manufacture Products, 1973 Engineering Student Design Competition, James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation (1973)
Adams Memorial Award, American Welding Society (1981)