Robert Coombe is Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Denver. A faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for many years, he also served as Chair of that department; Dean of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering; Provost; and for the final nine years of his tenure at DU as Chancellor of the University.
Dr. Coombe holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. A physical chemist, his career in research spanned more than 30 years and focused on the molecular dynamics of energetic chemical systems at the atomic and molecular level. He is the author or co-author of numerous peer-reviewed publications in science journals and books, and he holds two U.S. patents.
He retired from the University of Denver in 2014 and has continued his work in education through service on the Boards of the Denver Scholarship Foundation and the LANL Foundation. He also serves as a member of the Water Conservation Committee for the city of Santa Fe. His principal avocation is music, and he is a cellist with the Galisteo String Quartet.