Jay S. Hosler '89

Jay S. Hosler, assistant professor of biology at Juniata College, previously worked at Ohio State University’s Rothenbuhler Honey Bee Research Laboratory where he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow.

An Honor Scholar at DePauw, Hosler received the Albert E. Renolds Outstanding Senior Award in biology and earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences. He received a Ph.D. in biological sciences in 1995 from the University of  Notre Dame, where he remained as an assistant professional specialist from 1995-96 to teach Evolutionary Ecology and Introductory Biology Laboratory. In 2000 Hosler joined the faculty of Juniata College where he teaches General Biology, Sensory Biology, Invertebrate Biology and Neurobiology. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Gibbel Award for Outstanding Teaching.

As a postdoctoral researcher, Hosler received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Health to study olfactory processing in honey bees. His research focuses on learning and sensory biology and has been published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Behavioral Neuroscience, The Journal of Insect Physiology and the Journal of Comparative Psychology. He has served as a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Insect Physiology and Naturwissenschaften.

Outside the lab, Hosler has garnered national recognition for his work as a cartoonist, and in 1998 received a Xeric Grant to publish his first graphic novel, Clan Apis, a comic book about honeybee biology and natural history. His second graphic novel, The Sandwalk Adventures, was released in the spring of 2003. It tells the story of a conversation about evolution that Charles Darwin has with a follicle living in his left eyebrow. His books have been featured on National Public Radio’s "Morning Edition" as well as in The New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education and Science.

In 2006 Hosler received a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to continue integrating science and comics. The grant funds the development of a college biology textbook in comic-book format. He was also a writer, artist and consultant for a new line of educational comics from Harcourt Achieve’s LYNX line. He wrote and drew two comics for the 10- comic line. The first story, Zoo Break, addressed concepts of animal intelligence, while the second story, UFO, examined life in the ocean.