{"683036":{"#nid":"683036","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Jenny McGuire Named Teasley Professor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe College of Sciences is pleased to announce\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/jenny-mcguire\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;Jenny McGuire\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Eas the recipient of the Harry and Anna Teasley Professorship\u0026nbsp;in Ecology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe newly endowed faculty position supports research and teaching that meaningfully advances the understanding and responsible stewardship of species and community dynamics amid evolving ecological interactions driven by global environmental change.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMcGuire, an associate professor in the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,\u003C\/a\u003E was selected for her pioneering ecological research and exceptional teaching efforts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cJenny\u2019s creative and fundamental research in spatial and community ecology is helping to position Georgia Tech as a leader in biodiversity and ecosystem conservation,\u201d\u0026nbsp;says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/todd-streelman\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETodd Streelman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and chair of the School of Biological Sciences. \u201cHer appointment continues a trend in the School to award research endowments to our most promising early- and mid-career scientists and\u0026nbsp;highlights the strong support and generosity of alumni such as the Teasley family.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet Jenny McGuire\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMcGuire joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2017 as an assistant professor. She earned a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the\u0026nbsp;University of California, Berkeley,\u0026nbsp;and completed postdoctoral research at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and the University of Washington.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer research explores how plants and animals respond to environmental changes across space and time \u2014\u0026nbsp;from the ancient past to modern urban environments to the future. She leads the\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mcguire.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;Spatial Ecology and Paleontology Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which integrates paleontological data, ecological modeling, and fieldwork to understand how biodiversity shifts in response to climate change and human development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur goal isn\u2019t just to preserve biodiversity, but also to help it thrive in a changing landscape,\u201d says McGuire.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe plans to use the Teasley endowment to advance wildlife redistribution research in the Southeastern U.S.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cGeorgia is a climate change highway,\u201d explains McGuire. \u201cSpecies are moving northeast toward the Appalachian Mountains, but roads, development, and fragmented habitats often block their paths.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMcGuire believes Georgia Tech is uniquely positioned to lead in this field, thanks to its technological strengths. She and her team will collaborate across campus and the Southeast, implementing cutting-edge biodiversity monitoring to better understand how species experience and respond to environmental changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cConducting this research in urban areas like Atlanta \u2014 where green infrastructure can serve as vital wildlife corridors \u2014 is especially important,\u201d adds McGuire.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe Teasley Professorship will also support student involvement at all levels. McGuire hopes to build a more connected and proactive research community that brings together students, ecologists, biologists, engineers, computer scientists, and community partners to address biodiversity challenges across the Southeast.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMcGuire is a 2024 Cullen-Peck Fellow, a Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Faculty Fellow since 2023, and an NSF CAREER Award winner. Her long-running outreach program,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EFossil Fridays\u003C\/strong\u003E, invites students, families, and community members into the lab to sort and study real fossil specimens.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ELooking ahead, she\u2019s eager to explore the possibilities provided by the Teasley Professorship.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible opportunity to elevate Georgia Tech\u2019s role in shaping how we understand and protect life on a changing planet.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA legacy of excellence\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHarry E. Teasley, Jr\u003C\/strong\u003E. graduated from Georgia Tech in 1959 with a degree in industrial engineering and worked for over 33 years for The Coca-Cola Company. In addition to the many leadership roles he held at Coca-Cola, Mr. Teasley is remembered for pioneering the\u0026nbsp;first Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to be used in an industrial context. LCA was a pioneering analytical framework assessing environmental impacts of a product\u0027s life from \u0022cradle to grave,\u0022 and it is used across most major industries today.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe Harry and Anna Teasley Professorship in Ecology is the second Teasley Professorship supporting environmental research at Georgia Tech. School of Biological Sciences Regents\u2019 Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/mark-hay\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMark Hay\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E has held the Harry and Anna Teasley Chair in Environmental Biology since 1999.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMrs. Teasley provided an official statement regarding the Harry and Anna Teasley Professorships at Georgia Tech:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u201cIt was the intent of my late husband Harry E. Teasley Jr. that the funds he gave to Professor Mark Hay at Georgia Tech would be to support excellence in the field of environmental biology and to provide him with the freedom to study any concept, hypothesis, or organism that his experience-honed intuition guided him to.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWith time, Professor Hay has proven to have been a very worthy choice and has made my late husband and I very proud through the breadth and depth of his studies, discoveries, and highest possible awards he has received. Once this was established, and along with the profound esteem both men had developed for each other, there was the wish to leave a legacy beyond the research: the human values and scientific approach to research that Professor Hay has demonstrated from the start.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EHaving been the unanimous choice of the evaluating committee, Associate Professor Jenny McGuire seems to be an excellent first recipient, and I am very proud to welcome her as I know my late husband would have been as well.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EI wish her many successes in pursuing and teaching her very promising research, and I look forward to learning about the impact she will have in her field as we have through the years admired Professor Mark Hay\u2019s achievements.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E###\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ETo learn more about\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETransforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, visit\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/transformingtomorrow.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Etransformingtomorrow.gatech.edu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJenny McGuire has been named a Teasley Professor, advancing Georgia Tech\u2019s leadership in biodiversity research and climate resilience.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Jenny McGuire has been named a Teasley Professor, advancing Georgia Tech\u2019s leadership in biodiversity research and climate resilience."}],"uid":"36607","created_gmt":"2025-07-08 12:04:17","changed_gmt":"2025-07-14 15:58:25","author":"ls67","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677350":{"id":"677350","type":"image","title":"Jenny McGuire","body":"\u003Cp\u003EJenny McGuire\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1751976281","gmt_created":"2025-07-08 12:04:41","changed":"1751976281","gmt_changed":"2025-07-08 12:04:41","alt":"A woman stands behind a row of skulls.","file":{"fid":"261242","name":"16C10200-P42-001.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/08\/16C10200-P42-001.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/08\/16C10200-P42-001.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6048126,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/08\/16C10200-P42-001.jpg?itok=1SzW21M_"}}},"media_ids":["677350"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.gtalumni.org\/s\/1481\/alumni\/17\/magazine-pages.aspx?sid=1481\u0026gid=21\u0026pgid=22870","title":"Tech\u0027s Fossil Hunters"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"}],"categories":[{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"76631","name":"endowed chairs and professorships"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"166926","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"10936","name":"Biodiversity"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELaura S. Smith, writer\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.smith@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}