Robert V. Duncan is an American physicist at Texas Tech University, Texas and previously served as vice chancellor for research at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.Laura Vanderkam, Robert Duncan: From Scrubbing Smokestacks to Superfluids in Space, Scientific American, May 12, 2009 Prior to his current posting he held various assignments while serving as a professor of physics at UNM, including associate dean for research in the college of arts and sciences there, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Mexico, was named as the Gordon and Betty Moore Distinguished Scholar in the division of physics, mathematics and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and is a fellow (and life member) of the American Physical Society "for pioneering advances in experimental studies of dynamic critical phenomena near the superfluid transition in 4He, and for the development of novel instrumentation and measurement techniques for use on earth and in space".
In October 2013, Duncan was named vice president for research at Texas Tech University by President M. Duane Nellis. He assumed his new role on January 1, 2014.Chris Cook, Texas Tech Names New Vice President for Research, Texas Tech Today, October 11, 2013
Duncan was asked by CBS News Sixty Minutes to investigate cold fusion on their behalf, and his findings were reported on the program in April, 2009.Cold Fusion Is Hot Again, CBS News, Sixty Minutes, April 17, 2009 In this program he said that he had abandoned his doubts and was now convinced of the possibilities of cold fusion. He also gave a speech at The Missouri Energy Summit about his findings and on the scientific method.The Missouri Energy Summit, April 22–23, 2009
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