-
About
▼
-
Admissions
▼
-
Academics
▼
-
Alumni & Parents
▼
-
Student Life
▼
POSITION: Professor of Biology; Program Director - Natural Sciences
DEPARTMENT: Natural Sciences
LOCATION: Main Campus, Harrisonburg | SSC 026D
PHONE: (540) 432-4410
Jim is the current program director for the Biology, Biochemistry, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Public Health and Environmental Science programs. He advises environmental science and biology majors and primarily teaches in the areas of evolution, ecology, and conservation biology. He earned his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University and his primary research interests include conservation biology, landscape ecology, behavioral ecology, and animal movement. Early research focused on population and behavioral responses of species to habitat fragmentation. His dissertation research at The Ohio State University, conducted in collaboration with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, examined the effects of fragmented habitat on the dispersal and population dynamics of ruffed grouse in southeastern Ohio.
In 2006, he began a long-term collaborative study working with Shenandoah National Park research botanist, Wendy Cass. The research was conducted by 2-3 EMU undergraduates per year (including summers) as well as SNP personnel. The project includes intense on-site field sampling as well as mapping and analysis of exotic plant spread and impact using GIS. The project addressed two specific research questions that focused on the exotic plants invading the Shenandoah National Park: 1) What is the rate of spread of the three most threatening exotic species beginning to invade the Big Meadows Swamp Natural Heritage area and 2) What is the impact of these exotics on the continued viability of the eight rare plant species located within the area?
In the fall of 2014, Jim initiated a stream restoration and monitoring project in the German River and Crab Run watersheds, located near Bergton, VA. This was a collaborative project with initial funding provided by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant that included partnering with EMU colleague Dr. Doug Graber Neufeld, Ecosystem Services, LLC., Tom Akre at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and EMU’s Center for Justice and Peace. The immediate goals of the project were to conduct a watershed assessment and restore two sections of stream as well as assess potential strategies to encourage adoption of best management practices by community members. His students specifically worked on stream macroinvertebrate monitoring to determine the impacts of restoration and long-term population trends of Wood turtles in the watersheds.
In 2018, he became involved in nitrogen footprint tracking, joining the Nitrogen Footprint Working Group, which is centered at the University of New Hampshire Center for Sustainability and the University of Virginia. Current projects include tracking carbon and nitrogen footprints at both EMU and for the City of Harrisonburg, as well as working on footprint reduction scenarios and goal setting.
Most recently, in the fall of 2021, he joined colleague Dr. Matt Siderhurst to collaborate on the study of movement of Tephritid fruit flies and other insects using harmonic radar technology. In the summers of 2022, 2023 & 2024 he accompanied 20 undergraduate students to Australia as part of Dr. Siderhurst’s NSF IRES grant to continue the work harmonic radar work on Queensland fruit flies with researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, James Cook University in Townsville, NSW and researchers at the Department of Agricultural and Fisheries in Mareeba, NSW. Jim and Matt are continuing to collaborate on various projects, tracking insect movements using harmonic radar to better model outbreaks and dispersal of agricultural pests. During the fall of 2024, he initiated research on the feasibility of using harmonic radar to study the questing behavior and individual movement of local tick species.
Jim is also heavily involved in study abroad education and has led intercultural trips to New Zealand in the summer of 2010 (6 weeks), fall 2012 (full semester), and summer of 2015 (6 weeks) with his wife, Kathy Yoder. The trips focused on sustainability issues related to tourism, natural resource conservation, and agriculture as well as indigenous Maori culture, restorative justice and New Zealand history. He also co-led two 3-week summer cross-cultural trips to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, focusing on similar themes with the Navajo and Apache peoples, first with Dr. Gloria Rhodes (2017) and most recently with Kathy Yoder (2021). In March 2023, he led a 3-week alumni cross-cultural trip to New Zealand, and in the summer of 2027, he will co-lead a 3-week intercultural trip to Washington, D.C., focusing on urban sustainability and Environmental Justice with WCSC faculty member Ann Butwell. In addition to intercultural trips, Jim has co-led three research trips to Sydney and North Queensland, Australia, with 20 students from EMU, Bridgewater, and JMU over a three-year period.
In addition, Jim has been the curator of EMU’s D. Ralph Hostetter Museum of Natural History since 2007.
PHD, Ohio State University (Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology)
BS, ݮ (Biology with a Minor in Computer Science & English)
