Richard Chinn works with the Department of Energy, at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Albany, Oregon. He is also in his fourth year of studies at Oregon State University in Corvallis, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering. Before being hired by the DOE, Richard had never done research; now, he hopes to make it his career, becoming a research project leader with the DOE.

Richard is a member of ASM International, the Materials Information Society (an organization of metallurgical engineers, technicians, professors and managers, mostly). He has served as chairman of the Oregon Chapter of ASM, and hope to be named as a Fellow someday. Richard is also a lifelong long-distance bicycler. He recently rode solo from Colorado to California by way of Utah and Nevada, over the course of three weeks, and has ridden through Yellowstone National Park.