James Paul Collins
Professor and Chairman
Biology Department
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
jcollins@asu.edu

J. Collins received his baccalaureate degree from Manhattan College in 1969 and his doctorate from The University of Michigan in 1975. He then moved to Arizona State University, accepting a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology. He is currently Full Professor, and has been Chairman of the Zoology Department, now Biology Department, since 1989. In 1983 Dr. Collins was a Visiting Professor at Duke University and in 1985-1986 served as Director of the Population Biology and Physiological Ecology Program at the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Collins' research centers on understanding the origin, maintenance, and reorganization of morphological variation within species. Amphibians, especially salamanders, are used as model organisms for field and laboratory studies of the ecological and evolutionary forces shaping intraspecific variation and the affect of this variation on population dynamics. Research projects include analysis of geographical variation in life history characters; influence of biotic and abiotic factors on size and shape of animals; relative contributions of genetics and environment to morphological development; and, studies of how intraspecific variation in salamanders affects their own population dynamics as well as the population dynamics and community ecology of sympatric species of vertebrates and invertebrates. Dr. Collins also studies the intellectual and institutional factors that have shaped Ecology's development as a science. He is author of 50 research articles and one edited volume. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and National Geographic Society.

Dr. Collins teaches courses in ecology, evolutionary biology, statistics, and professional values in science. He has directed 20 graduate students to completion of doctoral or Masters degrees. He is Director of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program, which is supported by grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and co-Director of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program, which is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins is also one of six research scientists participating in Undergraduate Mentorships in Environmental Biology, a program funded by the National Science Foundation. Collectively, these programs support research opportunities for about 100 majority and minority undergraduates in the biological sciences by using the skills of some 90 research scientists who serve as mentors for these students.

Since 1986 Dr. Collins has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Ecological Society of America, Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Scientific Research Society of North America, American Society of Naturalists, and the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology. From 1990 to 1993 he served on the editorial board of the journals Ecology and Ecological Monographs, and has served on the editorial board of Evolution since 1996. He has been a member of various review panels for the National Science Foundation, most recently serving as Chairman of the Committee of Visitors for oversight review of the programs in Ecology, and as an external reviewer for the Graduate Research Training grant program.

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