The Ecology Fund supports the greatest needs of the Odum School as it achieves its vision to lead the world in ecological science. Gifts support students, faculty and staff initiatives including awards, improvements to the academic experience, facility enhancements and operating expenses. All areas of ecological study are enhanced by this fund.

Launched by Odum School Interim Dean Sonia Altizer in 2023, gifts to this fund support unique financial challenges students face while experiencing temporary hardship related to an emergency situation, including medical expenses, temporary housing, meals and other related expenses deemed appropriate by the director of UGA Student Care and Outreach.

Gifts to this fund reduce financial limitations of experiential learning and research to enable our undergraduate students to prepare for future careers in ecology and our graduate students to pursue creative exploration through fieldwork and data science. Your gift supports a better future. 

Created with a generous donation from retired Odum School faculty Ron Carroll and Carol Hoffman, gifts to this fund support travel for Ecology undergraduate studies in tropical climates. Due to the Odum School’s tradition of study abroad programs in Costa Rica, students traveling to Costa Rica for Tropical Ecology courses are given first preference.

Created with a generous donation from an emeritus Odum School faculty member, gifts to this fund support the graduate program by providing competitive awards that enrich the diversity of the Ecology graduate student academic experience. 

Gifts to this fund sustain the EcoReach program that connects Odum School students and professional ecologists to K-12 classrooms. Activities enhance science programs and raise awareness for environmental issues while providing service-learning experiences for Odum School students.

Gifts to this fund support pollinator biodiversity through interdisciplinary conservation of terrestrial ecosystems. The Pollinator Project provides grants and operational support for student and faculty projects ranging from bees, bats and butterflies to flowers, fruits and vegetables. 

Gifts to this fund train future leaders in sustainability by expanding applied-learning opportunities and interdisciplinary efforts that engage Odum School students in ecologically holistic discourse valued by the Odum School’s namesake, Eugene Odum.

Gifts to this fund sustain Odum School research across coastal Georgia and neighboring states by providing immersive research experiences for students and furthering the study of invasive species, shellfish health, marine parasites and coastal habitats. 

With a mission to connect freshwater science to management and policy, gifts to this fund support competitive research grants for graduate students studying freshwater science, management and aquatic conservation issues in the local southeastern U.S. and around the world. 

With a mission to address problems at the intersection of ecological science and infectious diseases, gifts to this fund support holistic research on the interactions of parasites and their hosts to find solutions for conservation, animal health and pandemic preparedness. 

Gifts to this fund sustain Odum School faculty Sonia Altizer’s research to track the spread of the Ophryocystis elektroscirrha protozoan pathogen in wild monarch butterflies over space and time while providing hands-on experiences for students and volunteers to engage in scientific discovery and conservation through community science.