Having completed his Stanford undergraduate degree in 1950,[7] he attended a civil engineering and geology graduate program at the Imperial College of the University of London, England.

[7] His early work involved developing new approaches to analyzing and designing foundations for buildings constructed over soft compressible soils which exhibited the extreme effects of weakness and subsidence.

[7] His career evolved from specialized geotechnical engineering to solving a broader range of problems involving natural hazards and man-made pollution.

[13][15][16] Roberts' keynote influenced the current concerns over global warming and stimulated changes in the engineering curricula in America.

[14] In 2009 ASCE bestowed upon Roberts a Distinguished Membership, the society's highest accolade, for "bringing the principles of sustainability into the lexicon of the engineering profession".