Paris Collingsworth

Dr. Paris Collingsworth is an assistant research professor in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. He also holds the position of Great Lakes Ecosystem Specialist for Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, where he serves as a liaison to the EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (EPA-GLNPO) in Chicago. Paris earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Samford University, a master’s degree in zoology from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in evolution, ecology and organismal biology from the Ohio State University. His research focuses on ecosystem dynamics in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Working in these large systems, Paris uses ecological and statistical models as tools to develop a mechanistic understanding about how anthropogenic and natural stressors impact ecosystem structure and function. This research is interdisciplinary by nature and gathering the data that inform these models requires collaborations with program officers at EPA-GLNPO along with academic and agency personnel from across the basin. Current projects include using satellite imagery to characterize near shore gradients in chlorophyll concentrations in Lake Michigan, identifying sources of variation in the relationship between total phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations in Lake Erie, determining the ecological effects of temporal and spatial variation of the deep chlorophyll maximum in Lake Ontario and exploring the spatial extent and ecological effects of hypoxia in Lake Erie.

Contact Information: collingsworth.paris@epa.gov; 312-886-7449