Jacob Dums
He/Him
I am gay/ace and I am a plant genetic engineer turned educator.//
My love of science started in rural Wisconsin surrounded by nature and most importantly plants! I was enraptured with how pretty and variable flowers were and wanted to be a flower breeder. However, flowers being too “fem,” I went to undergrad for Chemistry and planned to switch majors once I got out of my hometown. While in undergrad, I discovered Biotechnology and fell deeply in love with the concept of engineering plants. I found an internship in algae biofuels and genetic engineering and was fully hooked. I continued to do algae biofuels research in graduate school at NC State where I got my Plant Biology PhD. Planning on broadening my knowledge base in order to be a good educator, I found a postdoc in viral ecology to support my growing interest in algae-microbe interactions. Turns out I really missed genetic engineering. So I did a teaching postdoc in Biotechnology and fused all of my interests together and even got to do a little education research. All those experiences helped me get a teaching professor position at the University of Delaware where I get to share all of my science joy!!