Eli Wheat

Eli Wheat

  • Associate Teaching Professor in the Program on the Environment
    • (206) 221-6694

    • Eli Wheat

    • Associate Teaching Professor in the Program on the Environment

    Research areas

    Autumn 2026-27 Admissions: As an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Program on the Environment, Dr. Wheat does not ordinarily admit graduate students. Dr. Wheat is not accepting students for graduate admissions. 

    Eli Wheat is faculty in the Program on the Environment at the University of Washington. Eli is also core faculty member of the Food Systems Nutrition and Health Program. He is passionate about regenerative food production systems and teaches many courses in food production and sustainability.  As co-chair of the Farm Advisory Committee Eli works closely with Dr. Yona Sipos and Farm Manager, Perry Acworth to support the UW Farm.

    Eli has a Ph.D. from UW, an M.A. Education from New York University, and B.S. in biology from Union College. He’s won numerous awards for his teaching and sustainability work including the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Award, 2018 Husky Green Award, and the College of the Environment’s Outstanding Teaching Faculty award. In addition to teaching sustainability and agriculture courses at UW, he owns and operates SkyRoot farm, a 20-acre, certified organic, integrated animal and vegetable farm on South Whidbey Island. In his spare time, Eli enjoys playing guitar, reading, and hanging out with his family.

    • B.S. Biology, Union College, 1998
    • M.A. Education, New York University, 2001
    • Ph.D. Biology, University of Washington, 2010

    Courses

    • ENVIR 100 | Introduction to Environmental Studies (5) - Autumn; Winter
    • ENVIR 240 | The Urban Farm (5) - Spring; Summer
    • ENVIR 340 | Farm Practicum (5) - Summer
    • ENVIR 389 | Agriculture and Urban Farm Systems Seminar (1) - Autumn; Winter
    • ENVIR 439 | Sustainable Societies (5) - Winter

    Selected publications

    Montgomery, D. R., Rabinowitz, P., Sipos, Y., & Wheat, E. E. (2024). Soil health: A common focus for One Health and planetary health interventions. One Health, 18, 100673.

    Wheat, E., Ruesink, J., & Banas, N. (2019). Multi-day water residence time as a mechanism for physical and biological gradients across intertidal flats. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 227, 106303.

    Wheat, E., & Ruesink, J. (2013). Commercially cultured oysters (Crassostrea gigas) exert top-down control on intertidal pelagic resources in Willapa Bay, Washington, USA. Journal of Sea Research, 81, 33–39.

    Yang, S., Wheat, E., & Horwith, M. (2013). Relative impacts of natural stressors on life history traits underlying resilience of intertidal eelgrass (Zostera marina L.). Estuaries and Coasts, 36(5), 1006–1013.

    Henck, A. C., Combs, J. K., Freeburg, A., Jesperson, G., Robbins, A. S. T., Rogers, H. S., Sheldon, K. S., & Wheat, E. (2012). Interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, international graduate education: A new model for training future environmental leaders. BioScience, 62(3), 296–304.