John Drake has been named Distinguished Research Professor in Ecology at a ceremony during UGA Honors Week 2017. The title of Distinguished Research Professor is awarded to faculty who are internationally recognized for their original contributions to knowledge and whose work promises to foster continued creativity in their discipline.

Drake is a globally recognized authority on the ecology of infectious diseases. Described by an external evaluator as “possibly the leading ecologist of his generation,” Drake conducts research in the interdisciplinary field of population biology, crossing boundaries between ecology, evolutionary biology and epidemiology. His contributions include new theoretical results, original experiments, and the development of new quantitative methods for reconciling theory and data.

He developed a novel experimental system that showed for the first time that characteristic statistical fluctuations known as “critical slowing down” may be used to devise early warning signals of environmental deterioration. He developed a new approach to model-independent early-warning systems for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Drake, who will assume the position of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Odum School this fall, was also recently named the recipient of funding from the UGA President’s Interdisciplinary Seed Grant program for his project “Mapping the global risk of emerging infectious disease threats.”

Also receiving the title of Distinguished Research Professor are Jessica Kissinger, professor of genetics; Tianming Liu, professor of computer science; Peggy Ozias-Akins, professor of horticulture; and Claudio Saunt, Richard B. Russell Professor in American History. For more information, see Distinguished Research Professor 2017 in the April 17, 2017 edition of Columns.