Robert A. Thomas, Ph.D., holds the Loyola Chair in Environmental Communications and is Founding Director of the Louisiana Nature Center and the Center for Environmental Communications at Loyola University New Orleans. He is part of an environmental center design team at Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, and an Associate with Perez Baker and Associates.

Thomas earned a Ph.D. in Vertebrate Zoology from Texas A&M University and is an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans, Tulane University, and Louisiana State University. He is the past President of the Association of Nature Center Administrators and a member/chair of several academic, business, and civic boards (such as the Louisiana Children's Museum) and committees. He served on the Accreditation Commission of the American Association of Museums and as Chair of the Environmental Advisory Committee for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

He was awarded The Elsie Naumburg and the Professional Leadership Awards and named Conservation Educator of the Year (1986). He was awarded the Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation Education (1994).

Thomas's activities at Loyola include a teaching program in environmental communications and biology, working in environmental intervention where industry and communities collide, environmental communications programs in tropical areas, nature-based tourism, and environmental education and landscaping.

He has published many papers in the fields of herpetology (reptiles and amphibians) and nature center administration. His most avid interests are in environmental communications, tropical natural history/interpretation, and nature center-based environmental education. He believes that environmental solutions are the result of open and honest communication, coupled with trust and integrity.