Richard William Jordan，日本山形大学教授，博士生导师。国际知名藻类学家和古生物学家，现任国际地学重要SCI期刊《Marine Micropaleontology》主编。担任和曾任多个国际专业协会的委员和多个期刊的编委。  

　　主要研究领域包括：（1）海洋微型植物6个不同门类的分类与生态；（2）极地和珊瑚礁生态系统的海洋硅藻生物多样性；（3）海洋化石硅藻的形态进化与策略。  

　　发表论文100余篇。现主持“西太平洋硅藻项目”（Western Pacific Diatoms Project）的研究工作。  

　　Abstract: Siliceous microfossil assemblages containing diatoms, silicoflagellates, ebridians, and archaeomonads can be used to reconstruct past events and oceanic settings; in particular, i) the transition from greenhouse to icehouse in the Eocene Arctic Ocean, ii) a possible mass sedimentation event in the Early Miocene Paratethys, and iii) the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean. Although the interpretation of these assemblages is based on assumptions and generalised ecologies, the scenarios are well supported by other lines of evidence. For instance, the finding of IRD in Middle Eocene sediments corroborates the discovery of the oldest Cenozoic sea ice diatom assemblage, a mass death event of scaphopods in the Early Miocene can be linked to a sudden freshwater pulse containing a chrysophyte bloom, and the presence of Late Miocene fish fossils supports diatom evidence that indicates the Mediterranean Basin did not completely evaporate, and instead received periodic intrusions of Atlantic water.