Thomas R. Sawicki, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Biology at Florida A&M University, where he is the director of the Groundwater Biodiversity Lab, and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies. His research focuses on the phylogenetics of macrocrustaceans that inhabit anchialine and freshwater caves, as well as epigean macrocrustaceans that live in both freshwater and coastal marine systems. Thomas has over two decades of scientific cave diving experience and has described dozens of new amphipod and isopod taxa from around the globe.