Ecology faculty member James E. “Jeb” Byers has been named the Martha Odum Distinguished Professor of Ecology. The position is named in honor of Martha Odum, a well-known artist and wife of Eugene Odum, founder of the Odum School of Ecology.
Established in 2023, the Martha Odum Distinguished Professorship in Ecology recognizes the artist’s foundational contributions and creative work. It was created with funds from the Eugene P. Odum Chair in Ecology, currently held by Dean Mark Hunter. The Odum Chair was established in 1985 with gifts from the IBM Corp, with additional gifts made by IBM, the Odum Ecological Foundation and the estate of Eugene Odum.
Byers is the second faculty member to be named the Martha Odum Distinguished Professor. The first was Sonia Altizer, a member of the faculty from 2005-2025 who also served as interim dean and director of public service and outreach.
“We’re thrilled that Jeb’s contributions to the Odum School have been recognized with the Martha Odum Chair,” Hunter said. “Jeb’s research and teaching exemplify the holistic and integrative approach championed by Gene Odum and the Odum School community.”
A faculty member since 2008, Byers is a leader in the disciplines of population, community and marine ecology. He’s best known for his research quantifying and predicting the success of biological invasions. He has performed some of the world’s leading ecological studies on interactions among native organisms and non-native species, including along Georgia’s coast.
Byers has built mechanistic mathematical models to analyze impacts of climate change, including expansions of invasive parasites and subtropical species into the state’s marine and freshwater resources. His approach combines experimental work and fieldwork at local, regional and continent-wide scales with computational models, providing critical theoretical insights.
“I am very honored to receive the Martha Odum Professorship. The Odum School is a special place, and all of us here are indebted to the Odums for the lasting impact they had on our school that continues to this day,” said Byers, who is also a UGA Athletic Association Professor in Ecology and Lothar Tresp Honors Professor. “UGA is a fantastic place to do ecology, and the Martha Odum Professorship helps to make it that much easier.”
In 2021, Byers was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received UGA’s Creative Research Award in 2022 and was elected a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America in 2018. In 2017, he was named a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Ecology. Byers also received the Felton Jenkins Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award from the University System of Georgia; Richard B. Russell Teaching Award; Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring Award; and Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award from UGA.
Byers earned a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and followed that with a postdoctoral fellowship at Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories at the University of Washington. He was a faculty member at the University of New Hampshire, and a visiting senior fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia, before starting a faculty position at UGA.
Martha Odum graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in art and design, working briefly as a professional illustrator. In her landscapes—many of which were made during their travels—she often captured the ecosystems her husband studied. She always carried a sketch pad, a small metal box of watercolors and a vial of water in her bag.
Martha Odum passed away in 1995. Two years later, the Georgia Museum of Art exhibited a collection of her watercolors. As Eugene Odum wrote in the catalog’s introduction, their work was related—she sought “the essence of place” and he “the essence of function.”
Eugene Odum died in 2002. In 2007, the Institute of Ecology became the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology, the first of its kind in the world.
