Dan Bretl assistant professor of microbiology at UWL | University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Dan Bretl assistant professor of microbiology at UWL | University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
New in 2025, the Eagle Research & Creativity Mentoring Excellence Award has been introduced to honor University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) instructors who excel in supporting students engaged in research and creative projects. Both undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to nominate faculty or IAS research mentors who have provided significant support in various areas such as student learning, expanding understanding of scholarly ideas, helping achieve research goals, offering unique learning opportunities, providing leadership roles, building confidence, and opening academic or professional opportunities.
Students are given a form each spring to nominate their instructors. The Undergraduate Research & Creativity Committee reviews these nominations and makes recommendations to the Provost’s Office for final selection.
This year's recipient is Dan Bretl, an assistant professor of microbiology at UWL. Bretl began his tenure at UWL in 2019 and teaches courses including Fundamentals of Microbiology (MIC230), Prokaryotic Molecular Genetics (MIC416/516), Research Deconstruction (MIC458/558), and Advanced Genetics (MIC714). Prior to joining UWL, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Iowa and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
In his role as a mentor, Bretl works with both undergraduate and graduate students each semester within his research lab. He guides them through various aspects such as conducting experiments, applying for grants or fellowships, and presenting their work through posters, talks or published papers. Since joining UWL, he has mentored 25 undergraduate students and five graduate students while also serving on several thesis committees within the department.
"My favorite part of mentoring students is to provide them an opportunity to apply their knowledge from the classroom and perform actual 'real-world' experiments," says Bretl. "It is very rewarding to have students become confident, independent researchers and use their research and lab skills toward gaining great job opportunities or graduate/professional school opportunities."
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