Jason Kilgore, Ph.D.

Jason Kilgore is a professor and acting chair (Fall 2022) in the Department of Biology, coordinates the Environmental Science Major, and co-coordinates the Social Justice Studies Program. As a broadly trained plant ecologist and former wetland consultant, he is interested in the regulation of species distributions from local patches of woods to the landscape scale. He and his students use field and greenhouse studies to understand the impacts of invasive species, environmental contaminants, and climate change on growth, survival, community succession, and migration of plants.

Dr. Kilgore’s main research systems include forests of northeastern North America, mountain islands of southern Arizona, and sand dunes on the Great Lakes. He particularly values long-term ecological studies and participates in the College’s Long-term Ecological Monitoring (LEM) program at the Abernathy Field Station and the Permanent Forest Plot Project (PFPP), which is part of the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN). Within EREN, he serves as Vice President; co-leads projects related to emerald ash borer (EAB), understory plant communities (cVeg), and human impacts on local woody plant assemblages (PHAE); and contributes to collaborative projects related to garlic mustard (GM/P), acorn production (OakMAST), and impacts of windows on bird mortality (BirdWin). Dr. Kilgore currently directs two external grants investigating EAB-induced ash mortality and plant community response on the Allegheny National Forest. Recent research also includes developing protocols to identify old-growth forests in the local ecoregion.

Dr. Kilgore is also involved in research related to interventional pain therapy and radiation safety with Dr. David Provenzano, impacts of collaborative research on student learning (EREN), use of digitized natural history collections to learn ecological concepts (QUBES Faculty Mentoring Network), and remediation of soil and water contaminated with heavy metals (Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment (LIASE) Grant, Henry Luce Foundation), which is work done in collaboration with W&J students, Dr. Jennifer Bayline (Chemistry Department), and faculty at Guangdong University of Education in Guangzhou, China.

Dr. Kilgore is also founder and curator to the W&J Campus Arboretum and manages the W&J Greenhouse and Herbarium. Many students from across campus contribute to the care, management, and monitoring of plants in these projects.

Dr. Kilgore’s primary teaching responsibilities are Evolution and Biological Diversity, Field Biology, Applied Statistics for the Life Sciences, Plant Diversity, Environmental Plant Physiology, and Forest Ecology. He also teaches an introductory course in environmental studies related to water resources as well as non-major courses in economic botany and First-Year Seminars focusing on discovering one’s sense of place and thriving as a first-year student. For Intersession/JayTerm, Dr. Kilgore has taught on-campus courses in dendrochronology and immigration policy and travel courses focusing on the natural and human history of the Sonoran Desert.

Dr. Kilgore currently serves the College through the Assessment Working Group and the President’s Council for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He also serves as the faculty mentor to the Varsity Swimming & Diving Team and advisor to the Outdoor Club.

Community service is very important to Dr. Kilgore. Among other activities, he serves on the City of Washington Planning Commission and as an Associate Director for the Washington County Conservation District, gives talks and field trips to community organizations, and develops and leads outreach activities for local schools.