He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology at Penn State in 2009, and has studied the distribution and seasonal infection rates of chytrid fungus and ranavirus in Pennsylvania’s natural and human-created wetlands. He partners with scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast Fisheries Center on a number of amphibian disease projects, and is currently coordinating citizen-scientists to screen wetlands for amphibian pathogens by collecting environmental DNA. Jim is currently a co-chair for Northeast PARC’s Emerging Disease working group.