Our featured microscopist for November and December, 2000 is noted microscopist James E. Hayden RBP, FBCA, a freelance photomicrographer and owner of Bio-Graphics, a business in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania specializing in scientific/biological imaging and consulting. Hayden has won numerous prizes in the Nikon International Small World Competition over the past few years. Photomicrography and photomacrography are his areas of special interest, but he has also undertaken projects ranging from location photography and creating presentation slides to legal documentation and graphic design. His company, Bio-Graphics, began as a part-time enterprise in 1986 and became a full time business in 1995. Prior to this, Hayden worked for 11 years as a Research Specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in the Department of Pathology where his responsibilities included light and electron microscopy for clinical and research applications.

• Interview with James E. Hayden, RBP - Meet our featured microscopist in an interview given to Nikon by Mr. Hayden shortly after his selection as the first MicroscopyU featured microscopist.

• Photomicrography of James E. Hayden, RBP - View the invisible microscopic world through James E. Hayden's eyes with this superb selection of digital images created from his photomicrograph collection.

Currently, Hayden is a member of the Nominations Committee for the prestigious Lennart Nilsson Award, given annually by the Lennart Nilsson Foundation to "an individual emulating the spirit of the photography of Lennart Nilsson which reveals science and beauty to the world in unique and powerful ways." He has been an active member of the BioCommunications Association (BCA) since 1987, holding posts at both the local and national levels including election to the Board of Governors and Chairman of the Board of Registry. Hayden received his certification as a Registered Biological Photographer (RBP) in 1992 and was awarded a fellowship in the organization (FBCA) in 1999.

He has published several papers in both scientific and imaging journals and has presented papers to local and international meetings. His images have appeared in scientific and popular journals and have been featured on numerous covers. Hayden has won many awards for his work, including various submissions to the Nikon Small World competition seven out of the past nine years.

Hayden is a 1983 magna cum laude graduate of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where he created an independent double major in Biology/Biophotography. He is married with two children and currently lives in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, USA.