After working as the Tiny Earth Chemistry Hub (TECH) Manager for more than seven years, Martel DenHartog will be taking on a new role in August at the University of Montana. Her new position will be the Research and Community Engagement Specialist for the Skaggs Institute for Health Innovation.
Over the past eight years, Martel has tackled several roles within the Tiny Earth community. Beginning in the summer of 2018, she joined a small cohort of undergrads and recently graduated students to complete a mass amount of soil screening research at Luther College. The around 1,000 isolates screened during that summer make up a large portion of the Tiny Earth Database we have today.
Martel and the cohort studied differences across soil locations, media types and screening methods, all which helped inform the Tiny Earth course going forward.
That fall, TEPI Jodi Enos-Berlage (Luther College) began using the Tiny Earth curriculum in her microbiology class, and Martel was asked to help TA for this.
“I enjoyed seeing students’ confidence as scientists grow as we went through the Tiny Earth course at Luther and during TESRC,” Martel said. “Their curiosity and questions were abundant and sometimes surprising, and it was fun to watch projects take off in new directions I would have never considered. That’s the beauty of a diverse scientific workforce!”
This experience led Martel to pursue a graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where Tiny Earth is headquartered. During graduate school, Martel wanted to connect science communication with the Tiny Earth research focus of antibiotic resistance.
Through a risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model, Martel raised the question: How do scientists present information on antibiotic resistance to different groups of people to encourage better antibiotic usage practices?
Now, as the TECH Manager, Martel has continued to ask herself and the community this question with an end goal of providing better science education and raising awareness about antibiotic resistance.
Favorite parts of her role have included working with “all of the cool people” around the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (where Tiny Earth and the Handelsman Lab is housed) and the Tiny Earth network globally.
Tiny Earth Executive Director Sarah Miller said Martel, “swiftly evolved into the TECH Manager and became responsible for managing the Tiny Earth isolate collection, all the materials for the TEPI Trainings, and the entire Handelsman Lab.”
Having the opportunity to share results with TEPIs and their classes is another rewarding aspect of the role, Martel said. In managing the Chemistry Hub, Martel follows soil isolates through the early stages of analysis and beyond.
“TEPIs and students generously share their discoveries with TECH, so moving isolates downstream for genomic analysis or chemistry is an exciting way to give back to the network and the broader science community,” Martel said. “It’s always exciting when new Tiny Earthlings want to contribute to TECH, and I’ve loved connecting with all of TECH’s repeat contributors.”
Martel also got the chance to guide a group of students through the Tiny Earth Summer Research Course, a 10-week research experience at UW–Madison for students enrolled in 2-year colleges.
“One of the best days was out at the Arlington research stations. Students got to select plots to sample from, and they were so excited to share why they chose different plots,” Martel said. “It was very cool to see some of these students come back to the lab or UW or continue on with microbiology.”
“She is highly competent and talented,” Sarah said. “She created the Tiny Earth Summer Research Course — which has been accepted for publication in JMBE! Tiny Earth Headquarters and the TECH research are what they are thanks to Martel. On a personal note, I’ll miss her greatly.”
Martel wants to thank those at Tiny Earth who she’s worked with over the years, and to especially thank Jen Heninritz, who was the lab manager when Martel began her full time position with Tiny Earth. As a mentor for that first year, Martel said Jen offered constant support and guidance.
We want to share our deep gratitude for the dedication and work Martel has given to our Tiny Earth headquarters team and the network. Congratulations on the next step in your career!
Martel’s position as Handelsman Lab Manager will be filled by Evgenya Shelobolina, who started on July 20, 2026.
By Abigail Bures
Tiny Earth Communications and Media Intern
Abigail is a journalism student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a focus on feature storytelling and digital media content. She has written for campus media during all three years of her time at UW-Madison and has built skills in storytelling, content strategy, and audience engagement. At Tiny Earth, she works to distill information into accurate and accessible narratives to support science communication and network knowledge.
