Richard Pitts, Jr., Ph.D. Department Chair, Program Lead, and Associate Professor of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics
Email: RPitts@HarrisburgU.edu
Biography
Dr. Richard Pitts, Jr. joined HU in January 2022 after working at Morgan State University for 16 years, where he served previously as Interim Chairperson for the Industrial & Systems Engineering Department and as an associate professor of Industrial Engineering.
Dr. Pitts currently serves as the Department Chair for the Dept. of Manufacturing Systems, as well as Program Lead and Associate Professor for the Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics (ADMA) program here at HU. Dr. Pitts also serves as the senior advisor for the HU NASA Lunabotics Challenge robotics team where students get the opportunity to build a lunar robot and participate in the national competition held in Florida. For the last four consecutive years, Dr. Pitts was awarded Gene Haas Foundation grant awards which totaled $89,500 that helped to support ADMA students with scholarships and funding for robotics competitions.
In addition, Dr. Pitts currently serves on university committees including the curriculum committee and general education committee here at HU and volunteers with the Admissions team to help with recruiting students for the ADMA program. He also develops industry relations and partnerships to support student internships and full-time employment.
Dr. Pitts earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and his B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Morgan State University.
