Tomoyuki Nishita is the 2005 Steven A. Coons Award Recipient for his inspirational work in rendering of natural phenomena. He is responsible for setting high standards in the field for quality of images and the soundness of science used to generate them. From images of simple rooms to those of the Earth seen from space, his work demonstrates how using advanced mathematical techniques and physical principles can produce such compelling images. In addition to this work in illumination and natural phenomena, Nishita has made contributions to a wide variety of other areas including geometric modeling, animation, non photorealistic rendering, and web graphics.