Dr. Richard (Dick) Konicek-Moran is a professor emeritus from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, a former middle school science teacher, and K–12 science district curriculum coordinator, involved in science education for the last 60 years. He is the author of the Everyday Science Mysteries series published by NSTA Press, and has been a life member of NSTA since 1968. Dick and his wife Kathleen, an internationally known botanical illustrator, have been volunteers with the Everglades National Park for the past 15 years and more recently for the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Coral Gables, Florida.