Ruth Richardson

Ruth E. Richardson is an associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering within Cornell University's College of Engineering. She joined the Cornell faculty in January 2002 following the completion of her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001. Richardson holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley (1995) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Manhattan College (1994). Her early career included internships as a chemical engineer at Air Products and Chemicals and as an environmental consultant at Malcolm Pirnie Consultants. As an undergraduate, she conducted research on the pathogenicity of microorganisms from HIV+ patients at Cornell’s Weill Medical College, funded by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Grant. During her graduate studies at Berkeley, she collaborated with the USEPA and the Army Corps of Engineers on treatability studies at a creosote-contaminated Superfund site.

Richardson’s research examines microbial communities pertinent to environmental engineering challenges through genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and bioreactor design. Her lab investigates bioremediation of chlorinated ethenes using Dehalococcoides ethenogenes, uranium remediation by iron- and sulfate-reducing bacteria, high-lipid algae for biofuels, and low-cost human waste treatment systems for the Global South. Current projects include sustainable water and wastewater treatment with the AguaClara and VersaWater teams, and eDNA tools for detecting harmful algal blooms, aquatic invasive species, and fecal pollution in the Great Lakes. She has been appointed to the EPA Scientific Advisory Board’s Environmental Engineering Committee (2016), inducted into Chi Epsilon Honor Society (2014), received the Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Tucker Cornell College of Engineering Teaching Award (2014) and the College of Engineering Excellence in Advising Award (2008). Key publications include “Inferring Gene Networks for Strains of Dehalococcoides Highlights Conserved Relationships between Genes Encoding Core Catabolic and Cell-Wall Structural Proteins” (PLoS ONE, 2016), “Use of De Novo Transcriptome Libraries to Characterize a Novel Oleaginous Marine Chlorella Species during the Accumulation of Triacylglycerols” (PLoS ONE, 2016), “Genomic insights into organohalide respiration” (Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2013), and “Identification of proteins capable of metal reduction from the proteome of the Gram-positive bacterium Desulfotomaculum reducens MI-1 using an NADH-based activity assay” (Environmental Microbiology, 2015).

Professional Email: rer26@cornell.edu