Richardson joined the faculty in January, 2002, after finishing her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, where she also received her M.S. Her B.S. in Chemical Engineering was earned at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. She has had internships as both a Chemical Engineer with Air Products and Chemicals and an Environmental Consultant with Malcolm Pirnie Consultants. She was introduced to laboratory research as an undergraduate through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Grant, which was awarded to study the pathogenicity of various microorganisms isolated from HIV+ patients at Cornell's Weill Medical College/New York Hospital.
While at Berkeley, she enjoyed tenures as an NSF Graduate Fellow, an EPA STAR (Science to Achieve Results) Fellow, a University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program Trainee, a Tau Beta Pi Graduate Fellow, and an officer in the Microbiology Graduate Student Group. She also worked with the USEPA and the Army Corps of Engineers on treatibility studies at a creosote-contaminated Superfund site in Washington State. Such experiences sparked and nurtured her interests in bioremediation, molecular biology, and the science/policy interface -- especially in the areas of chemical and microbial contamination of water and soil. She is currently a member of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, The Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, the Water Environment Federation, and the American Society for Microbiology.
