05/15/2026
Jeff Wesner: Big ideas begin with curiosity
Congratulations to Jeff Wesner, recipient of the President’s Award for Research Excellence: Established Faculty for his sustained record of influential research, external funding and professional leadership, which have brought significant national and international visibility to USD in the field of freshwater ecology. His research focuses on freshwater ecosystems, nutrient cycling and the movement of contaminants across ecological systems. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, along with book chapters, a textbook and a widely used software package, with his work appearing in leading journals such as Nature, Global Change Biology, Ecology, and Environmental Science & Technology. A notable achievement includes his 2024 Nature publication, in which he examines continental-scale transport of nutrients and contaminants by pacific salmon.
Wesner has secured nearly $3 million in competitive external funding, maintaining continuous support from the National Science Foundation since 2018, in addition to funding from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks. He has served on NSF proposal review panels, contributes as a subject-matter editor for Ecosphere and has provided leadership as co-chair of an international scientific conference with more than 1,000 participants. Mentorship has also been central to Wesner’s career, as he has supervised numerous graduate and undergraduate students whose work has resulted in more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national and international conferences.
This is a primer example of research excellence at USD. Go Yotes!!
