RICHARD B BROWN, H. E. Thomas Presidential Endowed Dean portrait
  • H. E. Thomas Presidential Endowed Dean, John and Marcia Price , College Of Engineering
  • Distinguished Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
  • Distinguished Professor, Kahlert, School Of Computing
  • Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Engineering
  • Distinguished Professor, School Of Computing
  • Distinguished Professor, School Of Computing
  • Distinguished Professor, Elect & Computer Engineering

Education

  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Utah. Project: Multiple-Sensor Chemical Transducer
  • M.S., Electrical Engineering, Brigham Young University. Project: Logic State and Timing Analyzer
  • B.S., Cum Laude, Highest Honors, Electrical Engineering, Brigham Young University

Research Summary

Chemical Sensors; Neural Interfaces; Electronic Circuit Clocking; Circuit Design; High Performance Microprocessors; Mixed Signal Microprocessors; Biomedical Implants.

Biography

Richard B. Brown earned BSEE and MSEE degrees from BYU, and after working in industry for six years, returned to school where he earned an EE Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 1985.  His dissertation produced one of the first smart sensors, an array of miniature ion-selective electrodes with integrated electronics.

He started his academic career at the University of Michigan, where he developed the VLSI program and conducted research on microprocessor design, silicon-based chemical sensors, and brain probes.  At Michigan he held an Arthur F. Thurnau Endowed Professorship and a Distinguished Faculty Award from the Michigan Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

In 2004, he was appointed Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Utah.  The College has since grown engineering degrees granted from 484 to 1,308, and research expenditures from $30M to $107M/yr.  Since 2006, the College has spun out more than 100 companies.  In 2022 the Kahlert School of Computing was named, and in 2023, a $50M gift named the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering.

Prof. Brown has 22 patents and has authored more than 225 peer-reviewed publications.  He is a founder of i-SENS (glucose sensors), Sensicore (chemical sensors), Mobius Microsystems (all-silicon clock generators), and e-SENS (water chemistry sensors). He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He was awarded the Utah Governor’s Medal for Excellence in Science and Technology and was the 2018 recipient of the University of Utah’s highest faculty award, the Rosenblatt Prize. A 2020 investiture made him the inaugural H. E. Thomas Presidential Endowed Dean of Engineering at the University of Utah, and in 2023 he received the distinction of Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of the Kahlert School of Computing.