Richard B. Brown received B.S. (with Highest Honors) and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering (computer emphasis) from Brigham Young University in 1976. From 1976 to 1981, he worked in computer design as Vice-President of Engineering at Holman Industries, Oakdale, CA, and then as Manager of Computer Development at Cardinal Industries, Webb City, MO. Richard returned to school at the University of Utah in 1981 and received an electrical engineering Ph.D. (solid-state) in 1985. His dissertation work included development of a junction-isolated epi-nMOS fabrication process and the design of a mixed-signal integrated circuit, to which chemical-selective polymeric membranes were applied to form an array of potentiometric solid-state liquid chemical sensors. (He was honored to receive the second ECE Distinguished Young Alumnus Award from the University of Utah in 2003.)

In September 1985, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Prof. Brown developed the highly respected integrated circuit design (VLSI) program at U. of M. He developed and taught both the Introductory and Advanced VLSI Design courses. He was an early proponent of the use of commercial electronic CAD tools in the curriculum, and worked with tool vendors to develop university programs. He managed a student VLSI design contest founded by Kent Smith from the University of Utah, which has now become an international competition with awardees being honored at the Design Automation Conference and International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

Prof. Brown has conducted major research projects in the areas of solid-state sensors; high temperature CMOS; gallium-arsenide and silicon-on-insulator circuits; mixed-signal circuits; clock generation; interface circuits; low-voltage analog circuits; electronic design automation; and high performance, radiation-tolerant, and low-power microprocessors. In this work, he has collaborated with colleagues in the Computer Science and Engineering Division, the Chemistry Department, Medical School, Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Public Health, and with a number of industrial companies. His research group has designed eight microprocessors in CMOS and GaAs technologies, plus three mixed-signal microcontrollers, and solid-state sensors of many kinds. He is the Micropower Electronics task leader in the University of Michigan NSF Wireless Integrated Microsystems Engineering Research Center. He has won a variety of teaching and research awards.

At the University of Michigan, Prof. Brown served as Associate Chair for the Electrical Engineering Division of EECS for four years and then as Interim Chair of EECS from July 2001 to June 2003. He was centrally involved in developing and implementing the new undergraduate degrees offered by EECS. He instigated the VLSI graduate major. As Interim Chair, he reorganized the department from three divisions to two (ECE and CSE), and wrote and had unanimously adopted, the first EECS bylaws, including provisions which allow faculty to belong to multiple labs, and to be affiliated with both divisions, an option taken by a quarter of the faculty. He established an EECS Alumni Society, an EE Graduate Student Association, and an Institutional Partnership between EECS and IIT Kharagpur, the top ranked engineering program in India. He improved EECS public relations by having the EECS web site updated and by publishing a department newsletter. He worked on improving the climate in EECS by focusing on climate issues in faculty meetings, adding climate-related questions to course evaluations, instituting a student advisory committee, and writing a successful NSF Advance proposal addressing women's issues. Research funding and course evaluation scores in EECS were at all-time highs when he stepped down as interim chair.

In July 2004, Prof. Brown was appointed the eleventh Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Utah. He holds appointments in the School of Computing and in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Utah Information Technology Association.