Robert is a third-year doctoral student who earned his B.A. in French through part-time study while serving as a mechanical engineering professor at Virginia Tech. He spent sabbaticals and summers in France cycling around and teaching at various French engineering schools. During a sabbatical year spent in Paris as a visiting scientist at the Office nationale d’études et de recherches aérospatiales, he pursued a certificat in contemporary French literature as an auditeur libre at the Sorbonne. He also spent two years as professor and directeur des études at Georgia Tech Europe in Metz, France, where he lived for a total of 6-1/2 years. Upon his return to the U.S., Robert rejoined Virginia Tech as an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering, completing his M.A. in French in 2024. His research interest is the influence of the second law of thermodynamics on diversity, exotism, and creolization in the postcolonial francophone novel.