Professor Robert J. Hocken is recognized for his contributions to the art and science of precision engineering, and to the education and training of a new generation of precision engineers and metrologists.

Bob Hocken earned B. A. degrees in both physics and mathematics from Oregon State University and M. A. and Ph. D. degrees in physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His doctoral work, completed in 1973, included an early application of heterodyne laser interferometry in precision metrology – in particular to the measurement of the refractive index of xenon near its liquid-gas phase transition. During 1974-75, Bob continued his work in experimental critical point thermodynamics as an NBS-NRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Heat Division of the National Bureau of Standards (since 1988, the National Institute of Standards and Technology – NIST). In 1975 he joined the permanent staff of NBS as a physicist in the Dimensional Technology Section. Over the next dozen years or so, Bob assumed positions of increasing technical leadership and responsibility, becoming a Group Leader in Dimensional Metrology, Chief of the Automated Production Technology Division, and finally Chief of the Precision Engineering Division.

During his years at NIST, Bob earned an international reputation for technical excellence through his pioneering work in error modeling, error mapping, and software correction of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and machine tools, the large-scale metrology of liquid natural gas container ships, and the applications of stabilized lasers to problems of high-accuracy metrology. In the latter area, Bob lead the design and construction of a precise polarimeter for measurements of sugar concentration, an interferometer for measuring long-term dimensional stability of beryllium, and the original tracking interferometer system (now commercially available as the laser tracker).
In 1989 Bob left NIST and assumed the Norvin Kennedy Dickerson, Jr., Distinguished Professorship of Precision Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He catalyzed the creation, and serves as Director, of the UNCC Center for Precision Metrology which is a widely recognized center of excellence for state-of-the-art graduate studies and research in areas of design, manufacturing, processes, and controls relating to precision metrology.

Bob Hocken is a Charter Member of ASPE, has served on numerous ASPE committees and has been twice elected to the Board of Directors. In addition he has served the Society for many years by teaching a very successful series of popular tutorials at our Annual Meetings. Bob is an Active Member of the International Institution for Production Engineering Research (CIRP), a member of the American Physical Society, a Senior Member and Fellow of the Society for Manufacturing Engineers, and a member of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers. Among his many honors and awards are Gold and Silver Medals from the U. S. Department of Commerce, the F. W. Taylor International Research Award from SME, and the F. W. Taylor Medal from CIRP. Most recently, Bob was awarded the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal from UNCC, the University's highest honor for scholarship and intellectual inquiry.