Darryl Felder is Professor and Head of the Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and an Associate Scientist of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, SI-NMNH. He has long collaborated with Smithsonian scientists, and based a part of his research efforts at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Ft. Pierce, FL (also serving on its Scientific Advisory Committee), at the Smithsonian Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystem Program lab in Belize, and at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute marine labs in Panama. His research interests center on diversity, phylogenetics, systematics, development, ecology and physioecology of marine decapod crustaceans, especially those of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. His current and recent research funding derives primarily from the US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation BS&I and AToL programs.