Jim Davis received an A.B. in Industrial Chemistry from the University of North Alabama in 1982. He completed a Ph.D. in organometallic chemistry at Vanderbilt University in 1986, under Professor Charles M. Lukehart. He was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Virginia from 1986-1989, during which time he worked in the field of metallacarborane chemistry with Professor Russell N. Grimes. From 1989-1995, he was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Brandeis University. In 1995, he moved to the University of South Alabama, where he is now a Professor of Chemistry. He has worked with ionic liquids since 1998, and has been active in the development of functionalized or "task specific" ionic liquids, even coining the latter term. Perhaps his most noteworthy work with ILs is the invention and first use of amine-functionalized ILs for the reversible, reactive capture of CO2. Since 2013, the core of his work has involved the design and synthesis of thermally robust ILs.