The UNT College of Science is proud to welcome Dr. Jason Bohenek to the Biological Sciences Department as a new faculty member. As a freshwater aquatic ecologist, Dr. Bohenek's research background extends from community ecology to physiological ecology, and he is particularly interested in using data to understand how habitat patch quality influences the assembly of ecological communities. For the past two years, he has been teaching Stream Ecology at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and he is excited to enter his new role at the University of North Texas.

"There are a multitude of qualities that attracted me to UNT. Chief among them was that the needs of the Department of Biological Sciences very closely aligned with my pedagogical expertise, philosophy, and passions," he said. "I was also impressed with the collegiality and collaborative nature of the faculty within the Department of Biological Sciences, especially because of the large number of faculty that are interested in ecology and aquatic models. However, these two reasons are only scratching the surface, as I was also drawn by the ecology program, the robust graduate program, the Water Research Field Station, the large student body, the R1 research status, and the charm of Denton, TX."

Dr. Bohenek will be teaching a two-semester sequence of Biostatistics for graduate students, starting in Fall 2022. He said he is looking forward to teaching his students modern statistics and data visualization techniques within a programming framework.

"I enjoy introducing philosophy that underlies statistical approaches such as falsification, the problem of induction, and the true meaning of p-values," he said. "I am excited that [Biostatistics] will be my core responsibility as it is a favorite topic of mine. Not only will we cover the fundamentals of programming languages, but we will delve deep into modern statistical techniques and the philosophy of statistical inquiry."

Dr. Bohenek received his bachelor's degree from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, where he triple majored in Biology, Environmental Science, and Philosophy. He then began graduate school at Texas Tech University, but shortly after starting, his lab migrated to the University of Mississippi, where he taught Biometry and earned his PhD in 2019.

"Beyond my expertise as an ecologist, I am well-versed in modern programming applications that will facilitate students' data carpentry, statistical modeling, and data visualization skills," said Dr. Bohenek. "I heavily emphasize modern techniques in my pedagogy so that students can improve the transparency and reproducibility of their statistical modeling with the goal of doing better science."

In his spare time, Dr. Bohenek is interested in both indoor and outdoor activities. "For example, I like to run, hike, bird watch, and cycle. I was a competitive distance runner in fifth grade through college," he said. "However, I am also a big nerd. I love science fiction, film, graphic novels, and games."

Learn more about Dr. Bohenek's research at: https://www.jasonbohenek.com/research