Richard joined the Geosciences Department in 2014. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology-Ecology from Concordia University and a PhD in Geology from the University of Western Ontario. Richard held an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre GEOTOP-UQAM-McGill and also worked as a planetary scientist at the Canadian Space Agency. He is one of 30 Participating Scientists selected for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission. His current research is on deciphering the geology of Mars using the laser-firing ChemCam instrument on the Curiosity Rover.