Rick Conrey is a geologist by training, with a Ph.D. from Washington State University. His research interest is primarily the complex geology and petrology of the Cascade Range in Oregon. He helps operate the Peter Hooper GeoAnalytical Laboratory at WSU. That lab has provided the vast majority of the analytical data on the Columbia River Basalt Group, critical for deciphering the stratigraphy of the basalt pile, and thus has provided some of the infrastructure for progress in hydrogeologic research in the Pacific Northwest.