DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Welcome to the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. EEB is in the top 10% of ecology programs in North America based on research impact (Keville et al., 2017), ahead of peer institutions such as UCLA and UC San Diego. Our faculty and students come from around the globe. Our faculty is a mix of internationally known senior researchers and an energetic group of junior faculty at the cutting edges of their fields. We train graduate and undergraduate students with research interests in ecology, evolutionary biology, animal behavior, conservation biology, behavioral and population genetics, computational biology, development of theory for evolution and ecology, ecosystem and community ecology, global change biology, diverse areas of organismal biology, and biology education.

Declare EEB As Your Concentration in the Biology Major

MEET SOME OF THE

EEB FACULTY

EEB faculty are a group of highly interdisciplinary researchers whose expertise cover the broad range of important research in ecology, evolution and behavior, and beyond. Faculty are quantitative and focus on big data and models, and their work is organismal based, including working on human-nature interactions. Faculty members’ research informs and enriches their teaching.

Meet our faculty

EEB in the News

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  EEB’s UT Fungal Collection Dedicated in Honor of Two UT Emeritus ProfessorsJanuary 26, 2026
  We are pleased to announce that the University of Tennessee Fungal Collection in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Dept. has been officially named and dedicated in honor of two UT… Read more: EEB’s UT Fungal Collection Dedicated in Honor of Two UT Emeritus Professors
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  The Evolutionary Case for a Little RoughhousingJanuary 9, 2026
  Gordon Burghardt, a UT Alumni Distinguished Service Professor, was recently featured in National Geographic for his work on rough‑and‑tumble play as a cross‑species behavior that supports healthy social and emotional development.
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  EEB Says Goodbye to Sandy EchternachtDecember 11, 2025
  Sandy came to the Zoology Department at UT Knoxville in 1975 and served Zoology and then EEB until his retirement. Sandy was the first head of the EEB Department (from 1996 – 1998) when it was formed and set the positive tone for growing EEB into what it is today. Sandy was a lovely human, and will be missed. This piece by EEB alum Stesha A. Pasachnik sheds a light on Sandy’s legacy.

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