Rate My Professor Elizabeth Walsh

Elizabeth Walsh is Professor of Biological Sciences and Interim Dean of the College of Science at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). She received her B.S. in Animal Biology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1983 and Ph.D. in Environmental Biology from the same university in 1992. After postdoctoral positions at Brigham Young University and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, she joined UTEP in 1994 as Assistant Professor, becoming Associate Professor in 2000 and Professor in 2008. Walsh has served in numerous leadership capacities, including Interim Department Chair of Biological Sciences (2013-2014), Director of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program (2014-2022), Associate Dean for Graduate Student Success (2022-present), Acting Director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management (2023-present), and Associate Director thereof (2021-2023).

Dr. Walsh's research specializes in the evolution, ecology, systematics, genetics, and ultrastructure of rotifers and other freshwater invertebrates, with a focus on Chihuahuan Desert zooplankton adaptations to temporary and aridland habitats. Her laboratory employs molecular techniques to explore comparative genomics, cryptic speciation, diapause cues, dispersal mechanisms, and the impacts of environmental toxicants such as heavy metals and pharmaceuticals. As principal investigator or co-principal investigator, she has obtained substantial funding from the NSF and NIH, including a $2.99 million NSF grant for research in extreme dryland environments (2023-2027) and a $654,980 NSF DEB grant on rotifer life cycle evolution (2021-2025). Notable publications include "Fifteen species in one: deciphering the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera, Monogononta) through DNA taxonomy" (2017, 289 citations), "Brachionus calyciflorus is a Species Complex" (2005), and "Rotifers of temporary waters" (2014). Walsh has earned the University of Texas Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2015), UTEP Distinguished Teaching Professor (2019), Steven McKnight Distinguished Professorship (2025), and several mentoring and service awards, contributing significantly to undergraduate research training at this Hispanic-serving institution through programs like G-RISE and RISE.