A 1968 article called “Human Memory: A Proposed System and Its Control Processes,” co-authored with his graduate student, Richard Shiffrin, is one of the most cited publications in the behavioral and cognitive sciences over the past five decades; it still receives about 700 citations a year.
[8] Another focus of Atkinson's research, conducted with his Stanford colleague Patrick Suppes, concerned developing computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to teach mathematics and reading to young children.
In 1975, Atkinson took a leave of absence from Stanford to begin a temporary appointment as deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
[9] Atkinson's task was to lead the Foundation through what one commentator called “a rebuilding from the ravages of the Nixon anti-science era.”[10] Skeptics in Congress and the media often attacked basic research, most of it conducted in universities, as a drain on public money that produced few practical results.
Senator William Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Awards for waste and fraud in public programs were the best-known examples; NSF received several.
In Congressional testimony and in the press, Atkinson defended the integrity of NSF's peer review process and the seminal role basic research plays in laying the groundwork for advances in science and technology.
He began a series of policy studies that led to the1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which transferred the intellectual property rights in federally sponsored research from the U.S. government to universities.
[12] In his role as NSF director, Atkinson also negotiated the first memorandum of understanding between the People’s Republic of China and the United States, an agreement for the exchange of scientists and scholars.
In 1985, UC San Diego Extension began the UCSD CONNECT program, which became a model for preparing entrepreneurs in high-technology fields to launch start-up companies.
[16][17] A few years after Atkinson's arrival at UCSD, a member of the Harvard University faculty, Lee H. Perry, sued him in San Diego Superior Court.
The goal was to ensure that its policies and practices, while meeting the requirements of SP-1, would also continue to be “demonstrably inclusive and fair.” The result of this review, approved by the Academic Senate and the Regents, was a broader, more flexible perspective on evaluating readiness for college.
Their mission is to generate discoveries ripe for application in the fields of biomedicine, bioengineering, nanosystems, telecommunications, and information technology through partnerships with the state's entrepreneurial industries.
[24] In a February 2001 speech at the American Council on Education, Atkinson announced he was recommending elimination of the SAT as a requirement for admission to the University of California.
Atkinson and his wife, Rita Loyd, met in graduate school at Indiana University and were married until her death on Christmas Day 2020.
A collection of Richard Atkinson's Presidential and Scientific Papers is available through the California Digital Library at https://escholarship.org/uc/atkinson_papers # denotes an acting or interim president