• February 2010-December 2011: Interim Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University.
• September 2007-February 2010: Associate Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University.
• June 2001–June 2003: Vice Chair, Senate, Brock University.
• June 1996–June 1997: Vice Chair, Senate, Brock University.
• July 1996–July 1997: Acting Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University.
• 1995–1996: Chair, Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University.
• 1994 to present: Professor of Earth Sciences, Brock University.
• July 1994–December 1994: Acting Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University.
• 1991–1994: Chair, Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University.
• 1990–1994: Associate Professor, Brock University.
• 1986–1990: Assistant Professor, Brock University.
• 1983–1984: Assistant Professor of Geology, Brandon University, Brandon, Manitoba.

• Ph.D. McMaster University, 1984
• M.Sc. University of Ottawa, 1980
• B.A. McMaster University, 1977

Internal Activities

• Associate Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science.

International committees and editorial boards

• Member of the Editorial Board for Sedimentology (the journal of the International Association of Sedimentologists), 1999-2001.
• Invited contributor of terms for sedimentary structures and textures to the Glossary of Geology (5 th Edition, 2005) published by the American Geoscience Institute in 2005.

Conferences, symposia and workshops

• Registration Chair, Geological Association of Canada/Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting, 2004.

• ERSC 1P92 Extreme Earth

• ERSC/GEOG 2P16 Introduction to Clastic Sedimentology

• ERSC 4P10 Advanced Clastic Sedimentology

• ERSC 4P11 Sedimentary Facies Models

• ERSC 5P50 Sedimentary Environments

Research

Rick is currently conducting studies of the formation of current crescents in response to unidirectional flow over obstacles on a sand bed. Using his 10-metre recirculating sediment flume, he is examining the effects of flow depth and velocity and obstacle diameter on the morphology of the resulting current crescents.

Graduate Student Supervision

• Mike Johnson ( Brock University)
• Tony Benincasa ( Brock University)
• Sean Mcfarland ( Brock University)
• Jens Paterson ( Brock University)

Articles in Books

• Cheel, R.J., 2003. Hummocky Cross-Stratification. Invited contribution to The Encyclopedia of Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks , G.V. Middleton, Editor. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 362–364.
• Cheel, R.J., 2003. Heavy Mineral Shadows. Invited contribution to The Encyclopedia of Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks , G.V. Middleton, Editor. Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 355–356.
• Cheel, R.J. , 2003. Parting lineation and current crescents. In The Encyclopedia of Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks , G.V. Middleton, Editor. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 512–514.

Research Articles

• Alexander J., J.S. Bridge, R.J. Cheel, and S.F. LeClair, 2001. Bed forms and associated sedimentary structures formed under supercritical water flows over aggrading sand beds. Sedimentology , 48: 133–152.
• McFarland S., Westrop S.R. and R.J. Cheel, 1999. Allogenic versus autogenic processes in the genesis of Middle Ordovician brachiopod-rich shell beds, Verulam Formation, Ontario. Palaios , 14: 282–287.
• Leckie, D.A., and Cheel, R.J., 1997, Sedimentology and depositional history of the Lower Cretaceous Coarse-grained clastics, southwest Alberta and southeast British Columbia: Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin , 45: 1–24.
• Paterson, J. and Cheel, R.J., 1997. The depositional history of the Bloomington complex, an ice-contact deposit in the Oak Ridges Moraine, southern Ontario, Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews , p. 705–719.