Professor Bocko earned his PhD in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1984, and after a brief post-doc, joined the ECE department in 1985. He has research and teaching experience in the areas of sensors and transducers, low-noise electronics, high speed digital superconducting electronics, quantum coherent electronics and quantum noise, microelectronic fabrication, microwaves, nonlinear dynamics, digital signal processing, musical acoustics, and digital audio. He is also the Director for the Center for Emerging Innovative Systems (CEIS), a New York state supported center for promoting joint university-industry research and technology development, which is housed at the University of Rochester. Professor Bocko has enjoyed teaching courses on solid state devices, microwaves, nonlinear dynamics, circuits, DSP in audio, and engineering design. Currently, his teaching is in primarily in the latter two areas. Over the years, he was won three separate teaching awards at the University of Rochester.

Professor Bocko became Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering February 2012. He had previously been the Chair from 2004-2010.