He is a member of the Geoscience Education research group at Purdue University. Riggs and his graduate students study many related aspects of field-based teaching and learning in the geosciences, focusing on issues of geoscience knowledge construction, spatial cognition related to geoscience expertise, and cross-cultural education. Riggs is the co-founder of the Indigenous Earth Sciences Project, a research and outreach effort which works to make geoscience education accessible and useful to Native Americans in Southern California and across North America. Toward an Understanding of Field Mapping Expertise: Student Navigation as a Measure of Problem Solving Skill.