[2][4][6] Cicerone joined the University of Michigan as a research scientist, later holding faculty positions in electrical and computer engineering from 1971 to 1978.

[7] Ralph Cicerone held the position of Chancellor of UC Irvine until 2005, when he left to be President of the National Academy of Sciences.

[7][8][9] In 2001, while chancellor of UCI, Cicerone led an academy panel, commissioned by George W. Bush, tasked with reporting to him on climate change.

[4] He also served as president of the American Geophysical Union, the world's largest society of earth scientists.

[4] The American Geophysical Union awarded him its James B. Macelwane Award in 1979 for outstanding contributions to geophysics by a young scientists and later in 2002 its Roger Revelle Medal for outstanding research contributions to the understanding of Earth's atmospheric processes, biogeochemical cycles, and other key elements of the climate system.

[19] Cicerone died unexpectedly[1] at his home in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey on November 5, 2016.