Dr. Jane S. Waters
Dr. Jane Waters is a comparative physiologist with a broad interest in the metabolic scaling, collective behavior, and natural history of ants, serving as a professor of biology at Providence College since 2014. She is a transgender scientist, author, artist, and parent, an antizionist Jew, and is committed to helping feed and shelter communities in need.
Take a look at Dr. Jane’s academic publications on Google Scholar or if you’re just here for the ants, her observations on iNaturalist.
You can also download her CV, here
Dr. Jane is originally from New York City, having grown up in Queens and graduating from The Bronx High School of Science. She earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago where she was introduced to the world of biomechanics and scaling with Jake Socha and Mike LaBarbera. After six years in the Southwest, studying Pogonomyrmex californicus metabolism and behavior, Dr. Jane earned a Ph.D. in biology from Arizona State University, where she was a member of the Social Insect Research Group and Jon Harrison’s research lab. She was then awarded a James S. McDonnell Foundation complexity science postdoctoral fellowship and worked in the Levin and Couzin labs in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and also with Corrie Moreau’s lab at the Field Museum of Chicago before moving to Providence, Rhode Island.
Some of the academic societies Dr. Jane and the lab belong to:
- The American Physiological Society
- The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
- Entomological Society of America
- The International Union for the Study of Social Insects
Dr. Jane writes a column called “Ants in the City” for Motif RI and is also engaged with community activist and organizing groups including Jewish Voice for Peace and Food Not Bombs.
Find recent publications and articles on the lab’s linktree: https://linktr.ee/lovetheants.
You can follow Dr. Jane on instagram @janefrompvd, twitter @lovetheants, and/or bluesky @lovetheants.
Jane looking for ants in Sedona, Arizona in 2025.