[3][4][5] Bob has a strong track record of accomplishments working with federal agencies such as NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, DoD, and DHS, as well as on R&D partnerships with industry, IP management, technology transfer, economic development and job creation.

He was formally appointed by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to serve on the Third Frontier Board managing the State's $2 billion technology-based investment fund for stimulating innovation and job creation.

The SNL magnetic fusion R&D team led by Dr. McGrath made significant contributions to design, operation and diagnostics for tokamaks across the US and around the world, such as TFTR at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, DIII-D at General Atomics in San Diego, TEXTOR at Kernforschunganlage in Germany and the massive Tore Supra machine in Cadarache, France.

In December 2010, Dr. McGrath was recruited to Georgia Tech, where he served as Senior Vice President, Professor, and Director of GTRI, the university's powerhouse defense sponsored R&D complex conducting high-tech research in electronic sensors, countermeasures, communications, quantum computing, and much more.

In 2015, after declining several overseas R&D leadership opportunities, Bob was recruited back to the University of Colorado and NREL to serve as RASEI Director,[10] a position that he held until his retirement in 2021.

He has authored more than 60 journal publications, more than 80 published abstracts & conference presentations and numerous technical reports, often in collaboration with the many of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or junior researchers who have worked under his mentorship.