About

Black and white photo of jake smiling at the camera wearing a tattered bucket hat with fog covered mountains in background.

I study the factors that degrade freshwater ecosystems and have authored >170 scientific studies on a wide range of topics including lake food webs, limnology, water quality, invasive species, climate change impacts, and fisheries. In addition to Wisconsin lakes, I have worked in Mongolia, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Mexico. I teach undergraduate and graduate courses at UW-Madison.

I am the Wayland Noland Distinguished Chair in Limnology, Director of the Center for Limnology, and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Geography (1994), did my PhD research in Biology (1999) from McGill University in Montreal, and was a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellow (2001) and Aldo Leopold Leadership Program Fellow (2011). I have been the recipient of many awards and honors including the IRPE Prize in Limnetic Ecology, The J.C. Stevenson Memorial Award, A Fulbright Fellowship, and the UW-Madison Chancellor’s Teaching Award. I have given invited plenary talks at conferences worldwide. And, I am a fourth generation Wisconsinite.