Prof Jessica Rettig: Lifelong curiosity leads to biology

A recent article spotlighting Biology Professor Jessica Rettig highlights a surprising range of interests.

According to a profile of Rettig in the Newark Advocate, as a young woman, she was equally interested in science history and biology.

“I became a biology major in college,” she said. “I waited to decide until my junior year, because I was debating between biology and English. Then in the summer after my junior year I had a research experience doing lake ecology in northern Wisconsin. For my project I worked with native and exotic crayfish and local fish (largemouth and smallmouth bass, yellow perch, crappy, sunfish), and by the end of the summer I thought I’d like to do ecology as a career.”

“I like being an ecologist,” she continued, “because I like to understand how the different parts of nature interact with each other. I particularly like working in aquatic systems, such as ponds, lakes and streams, collecting data on the animals and plants that inhabit these systems. And I like exploring – wading or snorkeling in ponds or lakes, for instance.”

In addition to teaching biology, Rettig still connects with another strong interest, English, through her work at the Denison Writing Center where she teaches writing on the topics science, society and infectious disease.