Her family subsequently moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where her father opened a law practice and her mother became an important civic leader and social advocate in the community.

Roberts and her spouse, a chemistry professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, have two sons.

[3] Roberts was an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Rhode Island from 1992 until 1995.

In this capacity, she led the Society through a multi-year strategic plan resulting in the introduction of new branding (including a logo and the tag line "Advancing Research.

Under her leadership, several new prizes, awards, and programs were developed, including the Next Generation Fund and the open-access journal Communications of the AMS.