Robby Robson

Robby started out in mathematics, contributing to the fields of real algebraic geometry and computational number theory. He received tenure at Oregon State University and held positions as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Dortmund and a research professor at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley.  Robby switched his focus to learning technology after co-creating one of the first online learning systems in 1995/96. In 2000 he left academia for industry and co-founded Eduworks Corporation in 2001, where he served as its CEO for twenty-one years. While at Eduworks he led teams that incorporated machine learning and AI into processes used to create, deliver, and track online learning and developed technology to support competency-based approaches to training and workforce development.

Robby has been involved in standards development and governance since 1998, when he started working on standards for course content, content delivery, learner information, and results reporting in web-based learning systems. He chaired the IEEE Computer Society Learning Technology Standards Committee from 2000 to 2008 and contributed to the standards that formed the basis of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), widely adopted by learning management systems, and to standards for managing skills and competencies. He also served on the IEEE Standards Association’s Standards Board and Board of Governors and contributed heavily to the development of the IEEE Standard Association’s Open Source program.

Robby holds a doctorate in mathematics from Stanford University, is an inventor on patents in the areas of automated metadata generation, automated question generation, phishing detection, and agentic AI, and has over 100 publications in areas ranging from mathematics to learning technology and standardization. He is the recipient of a standards medallion for his work on Open Source as well as the 2026 Hans Karlsson award.