Richard M. Christensen has over many years held positions of responsibility in industry, national laboratories, and academia. He has always been active in professional affairs and has held several leadership positions in professional societies. His technical responsibilities and research interests have been in the mechanics of materials for solids, structures, and non-Newtonian fluids. He holds five patents, has written two books and 100 archive journal papers. These are on the following and related topics: properties of polymers (viscoelasticity), composite materials, wave effects in heterogeneous materials, low density materials (extreme porosity), kinetic crack growth, life prediction and durability, failure criteria for isotropic and anisotropic solids. In 2013 he was awarded the Timoshenko Medal by the American Association of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This award is one of the highest honors in the field of applied mechanics.