[2] The family moved to Port Byron, Illinois in 1863, where Robert attended local schools.
[2] During the Fall of 1886 he performed graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University,[3] then he was professor of Greek and Latin at Gates College in Neligh, Nebraska during 1886–88.
[2][3] After receiving his A. M. degree from Oberlin, he was appointed professor of botany and geology in 1891–98 at Lake Forest University.
[1] During the period 1894 to 1896, took a sabbatical to attend graduate school at the University of Bonn in Germany[5] where he studied cytology and mycology;[3] he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1896.
Beginning in 1918, he served as head of the board of scientific directors for the New York Botanical Garden.