Robert Westervelt received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1977. Following a postdoctoral appointment at Berkeley, he moved to Harvard University, where he is currently Mallinckrodt Professor of Applied Physics & Physics, and Professor of Physics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Westervelt's group investigates the quantum behavior of electrons inside nanoscale semiconductor structures, and develops tools for the manipulation of biological systems.

Robert Westervelt is Director of the NSF-funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications, which is basedat Harvard University and includes participants at MIT, UC Santa Barbara and the Museum of Science, Boston. Previously Westervelt served as Director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and as Co-Director of the Joint Services Electronics Program, both at Harvard.