It is with much sadness that we mourn the loss of our great friend and colleague, Dr. Robert L. Spilker, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Bob died on October 9, 2012, following a four year battle with cancer. Bob lived a strong, actively involved life, with loving family, his wife Janis Spilker and three children, Jana Spilker Dunbar (Bethlehem, CT), Ryan L. Spilker (Boston, MA), Janel Spilker Holcomb (San Diego, CA), as well as their extended family across the United States.
Bob received his undergraduate degree in the Aeronautical Engineering Department, at University of Illinois (B.S. 1971) and his graduate training in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sc.D. 1974). He was a faculty member in the Department of Civil Engineering, Mechanics, and Metallurgy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1976–1984), and in 1984 joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic...
