Undergraduate Research

Congratulations to the July Undergraduate Researcher of the Month, Jessie Roncevic! 

Jessie Roncevic is a senior majoring in biology with a concentration in coastal environmental science and minors in creative writing and professional and public writing. During her time at UNF, she has contributed to multiple research projects under the mentorship of Drs. Kelly Smith and Scott Jones from the UNF Department of Biology.  

In Dr. Smith’s Mud Lab, Jessie assisted with a wetland restoration study by monitoring salinity levels for Spartina alterniflora, rehabilitating plants in the UNF greenhouse, and redeploying them into the marsh. In Dr. Jones’s WE~ECO Lab, her research examined soil properties and carbon storage across wetland gradients in Northeast Florida. She also served as team leader for UNF’s contribution to the Ocean Travelers II Project led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, which involved collecting and classifying marine debris based on buoyancy and the presence of epibionts. Currently, she is working on a project funded by the UNF College of Arts and Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program that involves collecting and processing soil cores from the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR) and the Intracoastal Waterway. 

These projects have been presented at the 2024 Advancements in Research, Inquiry, and Scholarship Exhibition (ARISE), the 2024 Science by the Shore Symposium, the 2025 Southeastern Estuarine Research Society (SEERS) Annual Meeting, and at the 2025 Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS). In addition, her science fiction article, “The Leftovers,” was published in the fifth edition of PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas. 

After graduating this August, she will pursue a graduate degree at Villanova University and a career as an ecologist or educator. She credits her undergraduate research experiences with helping her develop skills in data collection, plant rehabilitation, and scientific collaboration, as well as communication and leadership in team settings. Jessie's advice to future student researchers is to start by volunteering. “It’s one of the best ways to discover what excites you and to get noticed by professors for your dedication.”