Professor Voelcker's research over a 50+ year career has ranged widely: radio propagation, aural perception, and bandwidth compression in the 1950s; modulation theory and digital signal processing in the 1960s; computer science and solid modeling in the 1970s; machine tools and NC programming systems in the 1980s; parallel computation, dimensional tolerancing, and mechanical design in the 1990s. His primary current focus is on variation control in mechanical design and manufacturing.

Professor Voelcker founded the Production Automation Project at the University of Rochester in 1972 and served as its director until 1985. (The Production Automation Project established mathematical foundations for solid modeling, and produced the core modelers -- the PADL systems -- used in the first generation of solid-based industrial CAD systems.) Professor Voelcker has been awarded research prizes, teaching prizes, and fellowships, and continues to serve on governmental and professional society boards and panels. He is also continuing his personal research, teaches occasional courses, and supervises occasional student projects.