Robert Francis Boucher, CBE, FREng (25 April 1940 – 25 March 2009),[1] [2] [3] usually known as Bob Boucher, was a British mechanical engineer, and Vice-Chancellor of both UMIST (1995 - 2001) the University of Sheffield (2001 - 2007).
Boucher was born in Wembley on 25 April 1940 and was educated at St Ignatius' College, Stamford Hill, Borough Polytechnic, London, and gained a PhD from the University of Nottingham in Mechanical Engineering in 1966.[3] After postdoctoral work at the same university he moved to Queen's University Belfast as a researcher then a lecturer in mechanical engineering.[4]
In 1970 he joined Sheffield University as a lecturer, rising to Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1987 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Sheffield.[4] In 1995 he took up the position of Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UMIST. In 2001 he returned to Sheffield as Vice-Chancellor until his retirement in 2007. Boucher was Chairman of the International Sector Group of Universities UK and Treasurer of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
Bob Boucher was appointed a CBE in 2000 "for services to Engineering Research, Industry and Education".[5] He died suddenly on 25 March 2009.