Renton earned a Bachelor of Surgery in Chemistry from Waynesburg College in 1956, and his Master of Surgery in Geology from West Virginia University in 1959. From 1960 to 1963 he served as an R&Doctorate Officer in the United States. Air Force Solid State Physics Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, before returning to WVU to complete his Doctor of Philosophy in 1965.
In 2002, he was named an Eberly Family Professor for Distinguished Teaching, one of only four at the University. He has taught at WVU since 1965, reaching approximately 35,000 students during 100 semesters prior to his anticipated retirement in May 2015. His research specializations are coal geology and geochemistry.
His scholarly contributions have been in geochemistry, coal geology, X-Ray diffractometry, and clay mineralogy.
Throughout his career he published ~70 papers and managed almost $5 million in research funding. Many of his scientific contributions came while he headed the West Virginia Geological & Economic Survey Analytical Section concurrent with his WVU appointment from 1965 to 1992.
Renton has created a 36 part lecture series on Digital Video Disc called Bill Gates has this program as example of the sorts of educational innovation that the Gates Foundation intends to support, calling the course "phenomenal".
