CUIP Management Team: Where did you get your start, Bob?
Dr. Santoro: I earned a physics degree from Boston College, worked at IBM, then returned to BC for a PhD in physics, which I completed in 1975. I sent out 200 resumes to no avail but did receive a post-doc at Princeton University to work with Irv Glassman on laser diagnostics as applied to combustion. Irv had worked with Luigi Crocco, who was one of the first researchers to study combustion instability in rockets. So this was not only my first exposure to combustion, it is where I really got interested in rocket problems. From there, I went to work for the National Bureau of Standards until the mid-80s, when I went to Penn State. In 1988, Chuck Merkle asked me to lead the development of a cryogenic combustion lab for rocket research as part of a NASA USERC (University Science Engineering and Research Center) grant he had received. From that point on, rocket-related research has been the focus of my research.

CUIP Management Team: What or who were your influences?
Dr. Santoro: My advisor at Boston College, George Goldsmith, and Irv Glassman at Princeton. Some quotes from Irv Glassman that seem to have resonated the most for me over the years are: “If you are not excited about what you do, why should anyone else be? Any good research question always leads to a new one. Always give credit to the students.” That last quote is important, in fact, it should be expanded to “...give visibility to the people you work with.”

CUIP Management Team: If you were not a professor, what would you be?
Dr. Santoro: An over the road truck driver. I love to drive. My uncles were truckers, and my dad was a cabbie. But I have always loved teaching. Even as a boy, I loved to explain things to help people understand.

CUIP Management Team: Tell us two things you are most proud of.
Dr. Santoro: 1. Seeing young people go through our program. 2. My two daughters.

CUIP Management Team: Who has a better job, you or Joe Paterno?
Dr. Santoro: I do. I'm not judged on what I did yesterday.

CUIP Management Team: What kind of vehicle do you drive?
Dr. Santoro: A Mazda Protégé, standard shift. I've always driven standard shifts. And I have a tendency to keep cars for a long time. For instance, I drove the same Plymouth Volare station wagon from 1981 until 1998. I consider cars to be for transportation and not for residences.

CUIP Management Team: Is there anything about you that CUIP Website frequenters might find particularly interesting?
Dr. Santoro: I was at Woodstock...and I still have my ticket stub.