In 1969, Dr. Barbe received the Ph.D. degree from The Johns Hopkins University in Electrical Engineering after receiving B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University in 1962 and 1964, respectively.

Dr. Barbe joined the University of Maryland in 1985 as a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Since 1987, Dr. Barbe has been Executive Director of the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTECH), where he oversees six programs that foster technology entrepreneurship and technology company formation.

From 1979 to 1985 he was the Director of Submarine and ASW Programs and Assistant for Electronics and Physical Sciences in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Engineering and Systems. Prior to 1979, he was Head of the Microelectronics Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory and Fellow Engineer at the Westinghouse Advanced Technology Laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Barbe was awarded the rank of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1978 for pioneering research in Charge Coupled Devices. He was a National Lecturer for the IEEE Electron Devices Society in 1987 and was a member of the IEEE Awards Board for six years and has served on various program committees for IEEE microelectronics conferences. He has published and presented over 100 technical papers and edited several books on semiconductor devices and microelectronics and has authored several recent papers on technology entrepreneurship. He received a Department of Defense Award in 1979 for outstanding service and a Integrated Circuit Pioneer Award in 1987. Dr. Barbe has been listed in Who's Who in America since 1978.

A program for undergraduate entrepreneurs for which he is the faculty director, the Hinman CEOs Program, received Stanford's Price Institute 2002 Innovative Entrepreneurship Educators Award and the Maryland Association for Higher Education Distinguished Program Award in 2003. Dr. Barbe received the American Society of Engineering Education's Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator Award in June 2003.