Rick Hazlett received his PhD in geology from the University of Southern California and his master's degree from Dartmouth College. His graduate work included volcanic hazards evaluation around San Cristobal Volcano in Nicaragua and mapping of the Mopah Range volcanic field in California's Mojave Desert. Subsequent research included studies in Italy, the Aleutian Islands, and Hawaiʻi. He taught for nearly thirty years at Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he helped found the Environmental Analysis Program. He is coauthor of Volcanoes: A Global Perspective (Wiley-Blackwell Press) and is presently retired in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.