Thomas Cronin
Professor, Biological Sciences
Director, Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences (MEES) Graduate Program
Regents' Faculty Award for Excellence in Research/Scholarship/Creative Activity

Whether studying marine life around the globe or in his lab at UMBC, Thomas Cronin, one of the world’s leading experts on animal vision, is known as an extraordinary researcher who is equally talented as a mentor and teacher. In nominating Cronin for the Regents’ Faculty Award for Excellence in Research/Scholarship/Creative Activity, President Freeman Hrabowski said Cronin “epitomizes what every research university seeks in its professoriate.”

Cronin, who joined the UMBC faculty in 1983, is currently studying the visual system of mantis shrimp. With 12 types of photoreceptors and as many as 16 visual pigments, Cronin discovered that these tiny shrimp have what may be the most complex visual system in nature. His findings on wavelength and polarization of light not only provide an explanation of why shrimp possess such extraordinary visual systems, but have far-reaching potential applications for human processing of visual information in difficult contexts.

A prolific researcher, Cronin has 113 publications to his credit, with a number of others in press or under editorial review." In 2002, Cronin was elected a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his “exceptional contributions” to vision research and graduate education. That same year, he received a Graduate Education Award for his excellence in teaching and service from the MEES Graduate Student Organization.

Underlying all of Cronin’s research is a deep respect for nature. “I hope my efforts will lead to an incremental improvement in our understanding of the world and its value –- or even a wonder – to our understanding. My work won’t save the planet but I hope it helps to show how special our earth is and why it should be protected.”