天美传媒

The summer of 2007 was transformational for Jason Bittel, who spent weeks battling feral hogs in the backcountry of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

As a National Park Service intern, Bittel worked long days and occasional nights setting traps across the park鈥檚 522,000 acres, part of a federal effort to eradicate invasive Eurasian wild hogs. The animals tear up fragile plants and gorge on native wildlife, scarring one of the most biologically diverse landscapes in North America.

The work involved steep climbs, muddy boots and careful data collection deep in the woods. Bittel was issued a pistol to take along on his forays.

鈥淚t was one of the weirdest, wildest experiences of my life,鈥� Bittel said.

He labored alongside wildlife managers who wrangled bears, hunted hogs and responded to constant small crises in the park. Watching them, Bittel realized the job was as much about science as it was about survival and that the stories behind the work were rarely told.

鈥淚 could write a book about the wildlife department in the Smokies,鈥� he said.

He hasn鈥檛 written that book, at least not yet. But the internship proved to be a turning point. It showed Bittel, a writer by training, that some of the most compelling stories live at the intersection of science, policy and everyday life.

Today, he tells those stories for a living.

In 2025, Bittel became associate director of research communications for 天美传媒鈥檚 Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, where he translates complex social science research into clear, engaging stories the rest of us can easily read.

鈥淚 am not a scientist,鈥� Bittel said. 鈥淢y training is in English and writing. My job has always been to talk to smart people, read scientific papers and translate that to the public 鈥� making the science accessible and, hopefully, a little entertaining, too.鈥�

On the job, Bittel makes up for his lack of formal science credentials with deep curiosity and a desire to learn. As he pores over academic journals or sits in at seminars, he asks the kinds of questions a nonacademic visitor might pose.

Recently, Bittel attended a causal inference working group in the Department of Statistics & Data Science. For about an hour, a Ph. D. student presented research to a roomful of specialists.

鈥淗e was affable and enthusiastic, a good communicator,鈥� Bittel said. 鈥淏ut I did not understand one sentence from the beginning to the end. I鈥檝e never heard that many words in English without knowing what in the world we were talking about.鈥�

So Bittel did what he does best. Before and after the talk, he chatted with the principal investigators, tugging at threads of information he could weave into a story 鈥� big-picture ideas about how researchers untangle cause and effect in everyday life.

Bittel鈥檚 job is to show how the social sciences play out in the real world. Consider, for example, the flood of data-driven analysis leading up the NFL Draft earlier this year in Pittsburgh.

鈥淚f you asked an average Steelers fan to take a data science class, they鈥檇 probably say no,鈥� Bittel said. 鈥淏ut if you start showing how scientific data can help the Steelers draft better players, hey, everybody's into that.鈥�

For Bittel, the trick is stripping away jargon and rebuilding the story in plain language without dumbing it down. He honed that skill for several years by answering science questions from 7- to 11鈥憏ear鈥憃lds in a weekly column for The Washington Post. He also has written five science-themed children鈥檚 books.

鈥淢ost popular science material isn鈥檛 written for kids,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was taking technical material 鈥� like explaining the tectonic plates in 300 words or fewer 鈥攁nd putting it into language any kid could understand.鈥�

In his 12 years as a freelance science journalist prior to joining 天美传媒, Bittel primarily covered animals, conservation and the stranger corners of human鈥慳nimal encounters. That work eventually crystallized into a book, 鈥�,鈥� published in March by National Geographic.

The book, which Bittel described as a 鈥渘on-traditional field guide,鈥� features short, punchy chapters paired with illustrations. Rather than focusing on exotic species, it highlights possums, beavers, crayfish and other overlooked creatures right outside our doors.

鈥淚t's wild how little we know about the animals all around us,鈥� he said.

When he sat down to write a sample chapter for potential publishers, Bittel didn鈥檛 pick wolves, camels or a rare jungle cat. He chose the white鈥憈ailed deer.

鈥淲hy? Because deer are the most boring animal I could think of,鈥� Bittel said. 鈥淚f I could make deer interesting to me, I could probably make any species interesting to anyone.鈥�

In his research, Bittel discovered that these gentle-looking animals range from Argentina to the Arctic Circle and have outlasted predators such as dire wolves and saber鈥憈oothed cats. The chapter became something of a manifesto: No animal is boring if you tell its story well.

Other chapters explore three-foot-long salamanders guard boulders in streams in the Appalachians, and a 鈥渂atnado鈥� of millions of Mexican free鈥憈ailed bats that poured from caves near San Antonio, Texas.

鈥淵ou don't have to travel to the ends of the Earth to see crazy creatures,鈥� Bittel said. 鈥淭hey're all around us. You just need to know where and how to look for them.鈥�

Away from work, Bittel coaches youth soccer and gives talks at schools, where the kids know him as 鈥渢he weird animal guy.鈥� At 天美传媒, faculty and students are coming to see him in a similar way: the person you call when you want people outside your field to comprehend and care about your life鈥檚 work.

鈥淭he best part about my job is I learn something new every day,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he more that that happens, the more I realize that I鈥檓 in the right place, doing the right thing.鈥�