Tom Byl is a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Nashville, Tennessee, and a faculty member in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Tennessee State University. He received his B.S. in biological sciences at Hope College, his M.S. in biochemistry at Louisiana State University, his Ph.D. in environmental toxicology at the University of Memphis, and a postdoctorate at Clemson University. Byl teaches graduate courses in environmental chemistry, groundwater contamination and remediation, and water quality management. He has served as a research adviser to more than 100 students in the past 15 years.