Benjamin Freeman Named Early Career Fellow by Ecological Society of America

Benjamin Freeman, assistant professor and Elizabeth Smithgall-Watts Endowed Faculty in the School of Biological Sciences, has been named a 2025 Early Career Fellow by the  Ecological Society of America (ESA). 

Freeman is one of only 10 Early Career Fellows and eight Fellows honored by ESA this year for advancing the knowledge and application of ecological science in a way that strengthens the field and benefits communities and ecosystems.

“Ecological science tells us how nature works, and my research uses birds as ‘canaries in the coal mine’ to learn how animals are responding to the rapid changes taking place on our planet,” he says. “I am delighted by this honor.”

Freeman studies why species live where they do and how their ranges are changing in response to climate change. He is recognized for integrating evolutionary and ecological approaches to address fundamental questions in bird biology and for communicating science to the public. Freeman leads the Mountain Bird Lab at Georgia Tech and launched the Mountain Bird Network, which aims to compile systematic survey data on mountain birds across the globe. He is currently developing “Tech Mountain,” a first-of-its-kind field site to study how birds and other organisms are responding to climate change.

Freeman, who joined the Institute in 2023, received a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University.