Odum Award for Ecological Engineering Excellence
The Odum Award is the highest honor bestowed by AEES, named in recognition of two of the most influential figures in defining and pioneering the concepts and practices of Ecological Engineering, Howard T. and Eugene Odum. This award recognizes a lifetime of achievement and contributions during their career to research, education, and practice in the field of Ecological Engineering, which led to the development and growth of AEES. To learn more about the Odum Legacy, visit The Chesapeake Research Consortium's website.
Dr. Mark Brown
Professor Emeritus, University of Florida
AEES President, 2003-2004
2019
Dr. Mark Brown is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences and Director of the Center for Environmental Policy at the University of Florida. He was director of the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands from 2006-2016 and was a past vice-president and president of the American Ecological Engineering Society. He is a systems ecologist, whose research focuses on systems ecology, wetlands ecology, ecological engineering and energy analysis.
While his early career research focused on wetland ecology and management and ecological engineering, during later phases of his career his attention turned to applied and theoretical approaches to understanding the energy, ecology, and economics nexus. He has been responsible for over 75 funded research projects that resulted in nearly 300 peer reviewed publications, research reports, book chapters and books on ecological engineering, wetlands ecology, restoration ecology, emergy analysis, and life cycle assessment.
From 1986-1993 he was consulting ecologist for the Cousteau Society traveling throughout the world and working with their research teams to develop appropriate solutions to a wide array of resource management problems that affect marine resources. He has served as consultant on development and sustainability issues to the USEPA, USAID, UNEP, and numerous governments and private consulting firms worldwide.
During his 35 years teaching at the University of Florida he mentored 110 master’s and PhD students and was awarded Teacher of the Year in 1999 and Graduate Advisor/Mentor of the year in 2006. Dr. Brown has been appointed as visiting lecturer in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA; Parthenope University of Naples, Italy; China Agricultural University - Beijing, and Beijing Normal University – Beijing, China.
In 2009 he was awarded Parthenope University’s (Italy) Research Scholar of the Year (2009), Distinguished Fulbright Chair of Energy and Environment at Parthenope University of Naples, Italy (2011) and currently he is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Beijing Normal University in China. In 2021 Dr. Brown was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Wetlands Scientists.