Professor Richard Johnson joined the Colorado State University Department of Atmospheric Science Faculty in 1980 after completing over two years on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and two years at the National Hurricane Research Laboratory, Miami. He also served in the U.S. Navy as a Typhoon Duty Officer at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Guam, from 1969 to 1972.

He served as a lead scientist in the TOGA-COARE, SCSMEX, NAME, and DYNAMO field expeditions. He has also served as a co-chief editor of the Journal of Atmospheric Science, a member of the UCAR Board of Trustees, and received the AMS Verner E. Suomi Award in 2013.

Professor Johnson's research group is engaged in studies of atmospheric convection and mesoscale dynamical processes in both the tropics and midlatitudes, including the interaction of convection with the planetary boundary layer.