Jason Walsman

Jason Walsman is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist who uses theory and data to integrate across scales, from immune molecules to ecological communities, addressing questions ranging from conservation to human health. His research focuses on individual heterogeneity and eco-evolutionary dynamics, bringing quantitative skills and empirical grounding to both his research and his teaching and mentoring.

Walsman completed a quadruple bachelor's degree at Indiana University Indianapolis from 2010 to 2014, earning BS degrees in Biology, Biophysics, Pure Mathematics, and Environmental Science. He then earned his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2019, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Stephenson Lab at the University of Pittsburgh from 2020 to 2023.

After the National Science Foundation declined to renew his research funding this year, Walsman decided to leave Pittsburgh for Duke Kunshan University near Shanghai, relocating with his wife and two children. He is one of a growing number of American researchers considering opportunities abroad amid funding cuts and shifting priorities under the second Trump administration. He said the unpredictable US funding climate felt too risky to bet his career on, especially with a secure position already waiting for him in China.

Walsman studies infectious diseases in amphibians, working toward interventions that could help save certain frog species from extinction. At Duke Kunshan, he also plans to study tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease in South Asia. He has described the volatility in US research funding as the central reason behind his move, saying the rapid changes have made it difficult for scientists to predict whether their jobs and funding will remain stable — a volatility that has affected him personally.