Tawnya Cary is an integrative biologist who studies aquatic ecotoxicology, the study of morphological, physiological, and population-level effects of environmental contaminants on aquatic species. Specifically, Dr. Cary’s research investigates how environmentally-relevant levels of pollutants (e.g., PCBs, PBDEs, nitrates) affect the immune function in frogs. In addition, her academic interests include investigating how students learn biology and develop a sense of identity and belonging to the scientific community.

Outside of the classroom and laboratory, she enjoys being in the outdoors. You can often find her hiking, camping, canoeing, or tending her garden as she chases after her energetic daughter.

Dr. Cary is also the director of the Wisconsin Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (WiscLSAMP) program at Beloit College. This program supports under-represented students in STEM by building a community of peers on campus that guide student exploration of natural science, engineering, computer science, and mathematics majors at Beloit College. The program provides academic and professional programming to help students attain an undergraduate degree in a STEM major.