Evolution & Ecology Faculty
Learn more about this group by contacting Dr. Gaelen Burke (grburke@uga.edu).
Evolution & Ecology is the study of patterns and processes of evolution. Students learn genetics and functional patterns. They study the form and structure of organisms for evidence of their origin.
Anderson, Jill
Jill Anderson Associate Professor Genetics Evolutionary genetics and population ecology of plants; global change biology; field ecology; seed dispersal ecology; frugivorous fish. Website
Andrews, Tessa
Tessa Andrews Associate Professor Genetics Undergraduate evolution education; instructor experiences, knowledge, and skills in teaching biology; teaching context and climate in life science departments. Website
Arnold, Jonathan
Jonathan Arnold Professor Bioinformatics; Genetics Professor, Genetics; Research interest: Fungal gene regulatory and biochemical networks, and biological clocks. Website
Arnold, Michael
Michael Arnold Distinguished Research Professor Genetics Evolutionary significance of genetic exchange; effects of hybridization in natural populations of plants and animals. Website
Bahl, Justin
Justin Bahl Associate Professor Infectious Diseases; Bioinformatics Ecology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious RNA viruses (Influenza A virus, avian paramyxovirus, RSV, MERS-CoV) in animals and humans Website
Bar-Peled, Maor
Maor Bar-Peled Associate Professor Plant Biology Molecular cell biology of the wall, Biofuel and BioEnergy, Golgi as model for System biology, Plant Immunity. Website
Bennetzen, Jeff
Jeff Bennetzen Professor Genetics; Bioinformatics Plant genomics and genome evolution, transposable elements, and regulatory gene evolution. Website
Bensasson, Douda
Douda Bensasson Associate Professor Bioinformatics; Plant Biology Genome bioinformatics, ecological and evolutionary genomics of yeast. Website
Bi, Pengpeng
Pengpeng Bi Assistant Professor Genetics We use the advanced genetic mouse models to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying several diseases: obesity, diabetics, muscle and heart diseases. Website
Bik, Holly
Holly Bik Assistant Professor Marine Sciences, Bioinformatics Invertebrate microbiomes; nematode ecology and evolution; benthic and deep-sea habitats; using environmental DNA for biomonitoring Website
Billmyre, Blake
Blake Billmyre Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Department/Infectious Diseases Department High throughput genetics to better understand evolution of fungal pathogens and drive antifungal drug discovery. Website
Billmyre, Katie
Katie Billmyre Assistant Professor, Genetics Department Meiotic chromosome biology using Drosophila as a model system. Website
Blubaugh, Carmen
Carmen Blubaugh Assistant Professor Entomology Biodiversity; insect ecology; the role of soil microbes and defensive plant chemistry in plant/herbivore interactions, predator/prey interactions; sustainable agriculture Website
Buell, C. Robin
C. Robin Buell Professor GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics Plant Biology, Bioinformatics Plant genome biology with a focus on crops and medicinal plants; Synthetic biology; Evolution of natural product biosynthesis Website
Burke, Gaelen
Gaelen Burke Associate Professor Entomology Functional and evolutionary genomics of microbial associations with insects; virology, symbiosis, immunity Website
Burke, John
John Burke Professor Plant Biology Evolutionary genetics; molecular evolution; genomics. Website
Chang, Shu-Mei
Shu-Mei Chang Professor Plant Biology Evolutionary Ecology of flowering plants; Plant mating system evolution. Website
DeMarche, Megan
Megan DeMarche Assistant Professor Plant Biology Plant evolutionary ecology; population dynamics; responses to climate change Website
Devos, Katrien
Katrien Devos Distinguished Research Professor Bioinformatics; Plant Biology Crop genetics, comparative genomics and genome evolution. Website
Dyer, Kelly
Kelly Dyer Professor Genetics Molecular evolution and evolutionary genetics, in particular genetic conflict, sex chromosome evolution, genetics of adaptation and speciation, and host-parasite interactions. Website
Edison, Arthur
Arthur Edison Professor GRA Eminent Scholar Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Genetics Metabolomics and systems biology of Caenorhabditis elegans using NMR, mass spec, and computational approaches. Website
Farmer, Mark
Mark Farmer Professor Cellular Biology Protist systematics, cell evolution, and flagellar development. Website
Forschler, Brian
Brian Forschler Professor Entomology The mission of the Household and Structural Entomology program is acquisition of information on behavior, biology, ecology and evolution of associations with arthropods and human habitation. Website
Glenn, Travis
Travis Glenn Professor Bioinformatics; Toxicology Environmental Genomics; Crocodilians; Reptilian Genomics; Molecular Ecology. Website
Greer, Adam
Adam Greer Assistant Professor Marine Sciences Zooplankton ecology, predator-prey interactions, ocean biophysical coupling, plankton imaging and analysis Website
Hunt, Brendan
Brendan Hunt Associate Professor Entomology Behavioral and evolutionary genetics and epigenetics of social insects. Website
Kannan, Natarajan
Natarajan Kannan Associate Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Bioinformatics Evolutionary systems biology; protein kinase signaling in plants, pathogens and microbes. Evolution and classification of glycoenzymes. Website
Kissinger, Jessica
Jessica Kissinger Distinguished Research Professor Bioinformatics; Genetics Parasite genomics and the biology of genome evolution. Website
Lance, Stacey
Stacey L. Lance Associate Research Scientist Toxicology; Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Evolutionary toxicology, disease ecology, impacts of natural and anthropogenic stressors on freshwater vertebrates. Website
Leebens-Mack, Jim
Jim Leebens-Mack Associate Professor Plant Biology Phylogenetics, genetics of diversification including speciation; molecular basis of adaptation; evolutionary genomics; evolution of plant reproduction; organismal and molecular coevolution. Website
Liu, Liang
Liang Liu Assistant Professor Bioinformatics Phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, statistics. Website
Lukowitz, Wolfgang
Wolfgang Lukowitz Associate Professor Plant Biology Fertilization, and early cell-fate decisions in plant embryos. Website
Mauricio, Rodney
Rodney Mauricio Professor Genetics Ecological genetics of plants; invasive plants; genetics of adaptation. Website
McHugh, Joe
Joe McHugh Professor Entomology Evolution, systematics and anatomy of insects. Website
Menke, Douglas
Douglas Menke Professor Genetics Developmental Regulation of Gene Expression; Evolution of Vertebrate Morphology. Website
Moore, Patricia
Patricia Moore Professor Entomology The role of developmental mechanisms in sexual selection and the evolution of reproductive strategies in insects. Website
Moran, Mary Ann
Mary Ann Moran Professor Marine Sciences Ecology of marine bacteria in the carbon and sulfur cycles; application of ecological functional genomics techniques to marine microbes. Website
Mrázek, Jan
Jan Mrázek Associate Professor Bioinformatics; Microbiology Use bioinformatics and comparative genomics to study relationships between the genomic DNA sequence and the organism’s physiological characteristics,and regulatory processes that govern the flow of genetic information. Website
Oliver, Kerry
Kerry Oliver Associate Professor Entomology Ecology and evolution of heritable symbiosis in insects. Website
Ottesen, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ottesen Assistant Professor Microbiology Ecology and physiology of environmental microbes. The use of community genomics and transcriptomics to examine microbial behavior in natural systems. Website
Parrott, Ben
Ben Parrott Assistant Professor Toxicology; Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Environmental and ecological influences on development, reproduction, and aging in wildlife and humans. Website
Paterson, Andrew
Andrew Paterson Regents Professor and Head, Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory Plant Biology; Genetics; Bioinformatics My unit’s work addresses dimensions of plant genome biology relevant toward a more bio-based economy, linking increased fundamental knowledge to improved human lives. Website
Peach, Dan
Dan Peach Assistant Professor Infectious Diseases Dr Peach's research interests are in the field of vector ecology, with a focus on behavioral and sensory ecology. He is primarily focused on how arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, find and interact with resources such as the hosts they bite, the flowers they nectar-feed from (and pollinate) or …
Peterson, Chris
Chris Peterson Professor Plant Biology Response and vulnerability of forests to natural (e.g. wind, fire) and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. salvage logging), and geographic patterns of disturbance severity. Website
Rohani, Pejman
Pejman Rohani Regents' Professor Infectious Diseases The ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, including measles, pertussis, avian influenza, dengue and polio using computational modeling. Website
Ross, Ken
Ken Ross Professor Entomology Population biology, evolutionary genetics, molecular systematics, and comparative genomics of social insects (fire ants) with an emphasis on studies of genetic variation. Website
Salvador, Liliana
Liliana Salvador Assistant Professor Infectious Diseases; Bioinformatics Computational ecology; ecology and evolution of infectious diseases; evolutionary dynamics; animal movement. Website
Saunders, Jaclyn
Jaclyn Saunders Assistant Professor Marine Sciences Marine microbial ecology and evolution; oceanography, biogeochemistry, astrobiology, bioinformatics, big data analytics in environmental science Website
Schmitz, Bob
Bob Schmitz Professor Genetics Population epigenomics and mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance. Website
Spivak, Amanda
Amanda Spivak Associate Professor Marine Sciences Coastal ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry; ecosystem resilience to and recovery from disturbances; global change; carbon cycling Website
Stanger-Hall, Kathrin
Kathrin Stanger-Hall Associate Professor Plant Biology; Adjunct Faculty in Entomology and the College of Education Phylogeny and Signal Evolution in Fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae); Science education research. Website
Strand, Mike
Mike Strand Distinguished Research Professor Entomology Molecular and evolutionary biology of insect parasites; virology, immunology, symbiont evolution, reproduction. Website
Sweigart, Andrea
Andrea Sweigart Professor Genetics Evolutionary genetics and genomics of natural plant populations. Website
Trapnell, Dorset
Dorset Trapnell Assistant Professor Plant Biology Evolutionary biology and population genetics of natural plant populations, specifically evolutionary factors that shape patterns of genetic variation and mechanisms for partitioning and maintaining species-wide diversity. Website
Tsai, C.J.
C.J. Tsai Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Bioinformatics; Genetics; Plant Biology Growth-defense tradeoff, phenylpropanoid metabolism and carbon allocation, gene family evolution and functional diversification, alternative splicing and gene duplication. Website
Vogel, Kevin
Kevin Vogel Assistant Professor Entomology Integrating physiology, genomics, evolution, and microbial symbiosis to understand the biology of insect vectors of disease. Website
Wares, John
John Wares Professor Genetics Ecological genetics of natural populations. Website
White, Michael
Michael White Associate Professor Genetics Evolutionary Genomics and Sex Chromosome Evolution. Website
Yager, Patricia
Patricia Yager Professor Marine Sciences Marine microbial ecology and biogeochemistry; climate change. Website
Ye, Kaixiong
Kaixiong Ye Assistant Professor Genetics; Bioinformatics Nutritional Genomics; Human Genetics; Population and Quantitative Genomics; Gene-Diet Interaction during human evolution and in metabolic diseases; Website