Mary Katherine Wicksten is a Professor of Biology at Texas A&M University. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Biology from Humboldt State College, Arcata, California; and her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Southern California. She teaches marine biology and invertebrate zoology at the university. A specialist on crabs and shrimp, she has described 30 new species. She has published over 125 papers in scientific journals and an article in Scientific American. Her interests in adaptive coloration in crustaceans and other marine invertebrates have taken her from Australia, Palau and Yap in the west to the Bahamas in the east. She is a National Fellow of the Explorers Club and a member of numerous scientific societies and the Underwater Photographic Society.

Lately she has participated in deep-sea studies in the Gulf of Mexico and monitoring projects at the Flower Gardens Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Mary has been diving steadily since she received her certification in 1967. As a scientific diver, she must make at least one scuba dive each six weeks and therefore has amassed over 1200 hours underwater. She serves as a divemaster and teaches the “Underwater Naturalist” class at Spring Lake in San Marcos, Texas. She enjoys interacting with other divers interested in marine life, underwater photography and ecology.

When not diving, she rides and trains her Trakhener mare “Ann” in dressage. Mary (b. 1948) received her A.B. and M.A. degrees in Biology from Humboldt State College and a Ph.D. in Biology under John Garth at the University of Southern California. After postdoctoral work as a fellow of the Allen Hancock Foundation at the University of Southern California, she joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1980 and is now a Professor of Biology. She has received visiting fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution, California Academy of Sciences and three campuses of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico .

She has published more than 125 refereed papers, mostly on decapod crustaceans, and has described 36 new species and 5 new genera of crustaceans. She served as chief scientist on two exploratory cruises to the remote Alijos Rocks off western Mexico and participated in collecting and ecological monitoring cruises in the Gulf of Mexico, northeastern Pacific and the Galapagos Islands. She is a national fellow of the Explorers Club. An experienced scuba diver, divemaster and underwater photographer, she combines her research interests with development of teaching materials for her classes. Behavior, zoogeography and systematics of marine decapod Crustacea Decapods are among the best-known crustaceans, ranging from tiny shrimp to crabs with a leg span of up to nearly 4 m.. Major predators, disturbers of sediments, and elements of food chains, these animals are found in almost all marine habitats. New species continue to be found. Of those already known to science, often the descriptions are very old and lack details needed for more modern comparative work. Genetic studies are in their infancy.