Biography
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, Colorado

Rich received his BS and MS degrees from Texas A&M University. He began his career in the atmospheric sciences at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in 1967/68 working as a Fortran programmer. In 1969, during the Vietnam War, Rich entered the Naval Weather Service and was assigned to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Guam. He worked as a satellite interpreter, marine forecaster and typhoon forecaster in Guam until 1972. In 1972 he returned to Texas A&M and completed his MS degree with a focus on tropical cyclogenesis and his course work for his PhD. He joined National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service as a satellite analyst in San Francisco in 1974.

In 1976 Rich entered the National Weather Service (NWS) as the Deputy Chief of the Scientific Services Division in the NWS Western Region headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. He received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal in recognition of his work in systems development while in Utah. In 1980 Rich was assigned to the San Francisco Weather Service Forecast Office as the Area Manager for Northern California. In 1983 he assumed the position of Chief of the Operations Division at the NWS Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. While at NWSH, Rich played a major role in the development of the philosophy, structure and policy associated with the NWS Modernization. He was elected as Chairman of the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee after Dr. Neal Frank's retirement and served in this position until 1989. In 1987, he took a few weeks off from NWS duties and served on the support crew of the Voyager, an aircraft that flew non-stop, non-refueled around the globe.

In 1989 Rich transferred to a new position created in Boulder, CO to facilitate the design and implementation of three major programs: the Cooperative program for Operational Meteorology Education and Training (COMET), the Local Data Analysis and Distribution System (LDADS), and the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program. Rich wrote the original white papers defining COMET in 1984 for Dr. Hallgren and nurtured the program until it was on firm footing in 1991. He defined the original structure of the LDADS program and did much of the early concept designs working with emergency managers and the Forecast Systems Lab (FSL). He worked with FSL, MIT Lincoln Labs, FAA and NCAR to define the Aviation Weather Research program that is still alive and well today. In 1990 Rich was elected as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

In 1992 Rich transferred to NCAR as the Deputy Director of the Research Applications Program, a technology-transfer division. While at NCAR, Rich has directed the design and implementation of dozens of weather decision systems around the world, based on advanced science and technology and has pioneered the system design referred to as Intelligent Weather Systems. He also has been instrumental in diversifying the scope of RAP's R&D activities by developing new programs in the areas of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), agriculture and military applications.