Prior to his role at NSF, Richard was a professor in the Department of Geosciences at University of Massachusetts-Amherst for over 30 years and co-director of their Environmental Science Program. He received his Ph.D. in geology from Princeton University, where he studied the modern environment of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. His research largely involved the geochemistry of natural waters; his early work looked at element cycling in the hydrosphere and reactions in the weathering zone that influenced groundwater and watershed geochemistry. Prior to NSF, he explored the biogeochemistry of acid-mine drainage, specifically looking at ways to stimulate the natural population of sulfate-reducing microorganisms to reverse the problem with minimal human intervention.