Title: Professor
Institution: Utah State University
Address: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Utah State University, 3900 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322
Email: jim.powell@usu.edu
Phone: (435) 797-2818
Visit James’s Research Website
Research Interests: Dispersal of organisms, developmental phenology of poikilotherms, bark beetles, chronic wasting disease, data-driven models in ecology
Biographical Sketch:
I am an applied mathematician working at the interface of mathematical modeling, ecology and data science. My specialty is:
- creating mechanistic models for ecological applications,
- developing mathematical and computational tools to integrate these models with lab, field and remotely-sensed data, and
- using validated models to understand observable patterns of impact in space and time.
From 2017-19 I was a (rotating) science officer managing mathematical biology programs at the National Science Foundation. I returned to USU in 2019 and served as interim head of my department from 2019-21.
Working with disciplinary scientists and multi-disciplinary teams is my particular specialty (and joy). Over 30 years as a mathematical ecologist, my students and I have assisted teams studying:
- effects of temperature and other environmental covariates on timing and success of bark beetle species
- direct temperature control of developmental rates for poikilotherms (fungi, insects, algae)
- evolving spatiotemporal patterns bark beetle impact in North American forests
- consequences of organism dispersal in complex environments, including
- spread of plant species in naïve environments
- outbreaks of fungal pathogens in crops
- invasion rates of Phragmites in Utah
- long-distance spread of chronic wasting disease by juvenile white tail deer
- how habitat selection (and consequent) aggregation affects spread of chronic wasting disease among cervids in the upper Midwest and Rockies
- optimizing thermal reaction kinetics for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
Education:
Ph. D. in Applied Mathematics from University of Arizona, granted 1990
B.S. in Mathematics from Colorado State University, granted 1985
Ongoing and Recent CESU Projects:
- Mathematical models and homogenization of deer dispersal, environmental hazard, and direct/indirect transmission to predict spread of chronic wasting disease
Other Research:
- Modeling host behavior and environmental transmission of chronic wasting disease (USDA and NSF-EEID)