Joseph Colosi, Ph.D.

Dr. Joseph C. Colosi combines a love for teaching and a passion for God's creation in nature in his lifelong career as an educator at DeSales University. His undergraduate education at Rutgers University and graduate work at The University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University provided the foundation for his research and teaching interests in ecology and the environmental sciences. He further strengthened those interests in a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Western Ontario and a sabbatical year spent studying DNA technology at Washington University.

Here at DeSales University, he teaches undergraduate students in the introductory biology program as well as in courses in Microbiology, Ecology, Environmental Science, and Senior Research Seminar. In the spring of 2003, Dr. Colosi was awarded a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a teaching module on the study of environmental endocrine disruptors. One of his favorite courses in field biology takes a small group of students on a two-week camping trip to explore the variety of ecosystems in Florida, Texas, or Hawaii. He and the students return from this trip tired and happy, having learned much biology and more in this valuable time together.

Dr. Colosi is a prolific researcher whose interests include plant population biology and the occurrence of endocrine disruptors in streams and their effects on aquatic life. He shares these interests freely with his students and has served as mentor to many students in their senior research projects.

He loves the outdoors, enjoying hiking, camping, stained glass, and photography as hobbies. He has been on the stage in several Act 1 plays, including the title role in Fiddler on the Roof. He is an active member of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary church, where he serves as lector and a member of the parish retreat board.