When Carnesale announced that he was stepping down in 2006, he said he had missed teaching and policymaking and that his decision was prompted in part by current events. He said there were relatively few people working in national security who had Ph.D.s in fields like nuclear engineering. "If you're worried about nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction and the like, and can bring that technical background as well as the policy background in international affairs and security . . . It's a comparative advantage that I have in an area that's terribly important to the country right now. When he stepped down, he took a year-long sabbatical and then resumed teaching in UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. In 2013, a new building in the residential portion of the UCLA campus was named Robin and Albert Carnesale Commons in honor of the chancellor emeritus and his wife. The building houses one of the nation's first health-themed dining halls, as well as a fitness hall and multipurpose space.