Eleven students, postdocs and faculty from the Odum School of Ecology will represent the University of Georgia at the 2026 Ecological Society of America conference to be held July 26-31 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition, two ESA awards will be presented to Odum affiliates.

Professor Jill Anderson will receive the 2026 W.S. Cooper Award, and alumna Megan Tomamichel (PhD ’24) will receive the 2026 Thomas M. Frost Award for Excellence in Graduate Research. Anderson is honored for a study that examined how a widespread mountain plant called Boechera stricta responds to climate change. Tomamichel is honored for a study that explored how transmission rates drive seasonal patterns of shrimp black gill disease.

Following the theme “Ecology in an Era of Uncertainty,” conference keynote speakers will explore how digital intelligence (AI) and post-pandemic career development introduce uncertainties and opportunities for ecologists’ professional activities and funding sources.

Odum representatives include:

Jordan Argrett, a Ph.D. student, will present “Stealing from the rich to give to the poor: Are hemiparasitic plants the ‘Robinhood’ of sub-alpine communities?”

Christian Brown, a Ph.D. student, will present “Metacommunity dynamics explain biogeographic gradients in biotic interactions.”

Alan Covich, professor emeritus, will present “Effects of extreme low and high stream flows on the use of different types of riparian fruit fall by macroinvertebrates in tropical stream food webs.”

Regents’ Professor John Drake will present “Uncharted: Disease ecology amidst uncertainty” and lead two sessions focused on career skills: “How to write a scientific paper in 15 steps: A practical, hands-on workshop for early-career ecologists” and “How to be a good editor: Skills, strategies, and scenarios for ecological journals.”

Emma Kelsick, a Ph.D. student, will present “Fertilizer and flood disturbances impact nitrogen fixation microbial community composition.”

Rohit Nandakumar, a Ph.D. student, will present “Fire from the bottom up: Integrating belowground processes into fire ecology.”

Postdoctoral research associate Rabindra Parajuli will present “Ecohydrology-informed machine learning and GeoAI for habitat classification and forecasting in dynamic floodplains.”

Recent alum Isabella Pellicano (BS ’26 ecology, BS ’26 plant bio) will present “Global change alters shrub biogeochemical mechanisms in a boreal peatland.”

Katie Schroeder, a Ph.D. student, will present “Beyond the mean: Effects of daily thermal fluctuations on disease in host individuals, populations, and communities.”

Alex Strauss, an assistant professor, will present “Hot and hungry healthy herds: Warm temperature intensifies the inhibition of disease by predators.”

Professor Nina Wurzburger will present “Can biological nitrogen fixation replenish N losses in global forests under altered disturbance regimes?”

The 8,000-member Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a nonpartisan organization of scientists founded in 1915 to promote ecological science, raise awareness of the importance of ecology, increase resources available for ecology research and communicate with policymakers.