RICHARD A. LENT
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook (1990)
M.S., Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, University of Vermont (1983)
B.S., Natural Resource Studies, University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1976)
Unix System/C/C++ Programming Certificate, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1998)
Data Science Specialization, Johns Hopkins University (2019)
EXPERIENCE
College of the Holy Cross (1998-2026)
Educational Technology Specialist; Lecturer. Coordinate and develop Holy Cross policy on the enhancement and deployment of educational technology hardware and software. Design and develop educational technology systems. Engage in strategic planning, assess departmental, faculty, and student needs in educational technology. Maintain computer labs for teaching and research. Develop course materials centered on visualization, simulation, modeling, databases and data collection. Develop appropriate software and web pages. Conduct faculty development in uses of instructional technology, develop faculty awareness, provide individual instruction and group presentations. Hire, train, and supervise technology assistants. Develop grant funding for support of instructional technology. Teach undergraduate courses (Introduction to Programming with C++ Essentials, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, Web Design and Pedagogy, Visualizing Environmental Data, Survey of Computer Science). Consult with local community agencies in data analysis and GIS. Faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program (9 years).
Fitchburg State College (1999-2003)
Adjunct Faculty, Computer Science. Teach Programming Under UNIX in C (graduate course), Basics of Web Design, Advanced Web Design with Scripting, Introduction to Windows and Word Processing, and Internet Communications.
Worcester State College (2001-2005)
Adjunct Faculty, Computer Science. Teach Introduction to Programming with Java and Advanced Web Design Using Scripting Languages.
Harvard University, Harvard Forest (1992-1998)
Ecologist/Data Manager at the Harvard Forest, a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in central Massachusetts. Conduct field and laboratory research in animal ecology. Coordinate development of policies on data management, data exchange, and computer systems. Develop and evaluate software for research applications and information management. Develop and maintain the Harvard Forest Web site. Facilitate data exchange among scientists. Create and maintain Internet-accessible repositories for research datasets. Maintain data and documentation of long-term and historical datasets. Assist in design, installation, and maintenance of computer systems and networks. Develop and conduct personnel training in information management, computer systems, and software use. Provide consultation and support to investigators and staff on research study design and data analysis, graphics, data archiving and retrieval, proposal and report compilation, and computer software use. Maintain bibliographic database system for library holdings, reprint collections, publications, and current information from on-line bibliographic services. Assist scientists in study design, data management, and statistical analysis. Assist in development of proposals to fund information management and computing systems. Hire, train, and supervise research assistants.
Amherst College, Department of Biology (1993-1999)
Visiting and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology. Initiate a research program and supervise the research of senior honors students. Supervise teaching assistants in three courses. Teach an upper-level laboratory course in Introductory Ecology, an advanced course in Quantitative Analysis, and team-teach Introductory Biology.
Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, Seatuck Research Program; Seatuck Foundation (1984-1991)
Progressed from Staff Biologist to Associate Director for Research and Acting Executive Director. Administer and perform environmental studies in cooperative research program with State, Federal, and local agencies, Long Island, New York. Perform all duties associated with development and guidance of the program's scientific aspects. Responsible for study design, data collection, statistical analysis, staff supervision, and project management. Design and administer field station computer system (hardware acquisition, software development and evaluation, data management, statistical analysis, mainframe communication, graphics, geographic information system, staff training). Responsible for project budget planning and liaison with local, county, state, and federal agencies. Proposal writing; hiring, training, and supervising of staff scientists; public speaking; statistical analysis, study design, consulting to staff biologists and outside organizations.
Manomet Bird Observatory (1983-1984)
Research Assistant. Investigated environmental impacts of salt marsh management for mosquito control in Rowley, Massachusetts. Trained and supervised field assistants.
Environmental Research and Technology, Inc. (1978-1980)
Wildlife Biologist. Designed and conducted biological surveys for environmental impact prediction and monitoring.
GCA/Technology Division (1977-1978)
Scientist. Field sampling of air and water pollutants. Trained and supervised field technicians. Field work at sites in Fall River , MA, the greater Boston area, Providence, RI, and Pittsburg, PA. Laboratory analysis of samples, data analysis, report writing.
Carr Research Laboratory, Inc. (1976-1977)
Research Assistant. Classification and mapping of aquatic vegetation, water quality and biological sampling, lake sediment probes, surveying and field hydrology. Laboratory work in plankton counting, chemical testing, soils. Field work in greater Boston and western MA.
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION
Certified Wildlife Biologist (The Wildlife Society)
Xi Sigma Pi (National Forestry Honor Society, Alpha Omicron Chapter)
ADDITIONAL SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Ecology, evolutionary biology, ornithology, reproducible research, big data, R, RStudio, Shiny, Markdown, R Markdown, R Notebooks, Python, Jupyter, multivariate statistics, data wrangling, modeling, tidy data, GIS, web mapping, interactive data visualization, social media, mobile tech, writing tools, the plain text workflow, bibliographic databases, editing, computer programming, GitHub, Bitbucket, website design, proposal writing, public speaking, classroom technology, pedagogy, learning management systems, research, mentoring, carnivorous plant cultivation, Lepidoptera pinning, camping, hiking, canoeing, model rocketry, lawn mowing, weed whacking, fire building (two-match limit), brush cutting.