Dr. Robinson received his early education at the University of NSW, Sydney Australia where he received a B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees. He spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow in the medical school at the University of Michigan and became then a junior faculty in the School of Pathology for 2 years prior to moving to Purdue University where he was promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor in 1993.

Dr. Robinson currently holds appointments at Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, School of Computer and Information Technology and IU School of Medicine. Dr. Robinson is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Dr. Robinson is a highly accomplished researcher with over 180 peer-reviewed papers, over 400 conference presentations, 10 books published and over 160 invited international keynote addresses. 

Dr. Robinson is the inventor of a key patent on spectral flow cytometry that has been commercialized and this technology has become one of the most significant technologies in the field of single cell biological detection using fluorescence. In this regard, together with his colleague Masanobu Yamamoto, they recently produced the most sensitive, highest speed single photon detector currently available in the market. In addition, his team has been developing multiparameter electronics to allow simultaneous detection of up to 42 wavelengths in single photon mode. This technology has been initially focused on biological detection but has applications in the biodefense arena.

Dr. Robinson is an accomplished mountaineer having summited several of the worlds most difficult mountains including Everest, Manaslu and McKinley. In 2006 he formed the not-for-profit foundation “Cytometry for Life” as a mechanism to promote low cost diagnostics around the world.