Dr. Ethan D. Schoolman is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University. Dr. Schoolman is an environmental sociologist whose work focuses on the relationship of robust local and alternative food systems to environmental sustainability, public health, and social justice. Since coming to Rutgers, Dr. Schoolman has directed large-scale surveys of specialty crop growers in the Midwest, farmers in the Highlands region of New Jersey, and vendors at farmers markets in thirteen New Jersey counties. Among farmers, Dr. Schoolman is particularly interested in agricultural practices that support biological diversity and sequester carbon by nurturing healthy, living soil environments.

While working on these and other projects, Dr. Schoolman has collaborated with a number of not-for-profit groups and government agencies, including New Jersey Audubon, New Jersey Youth Corps, Elijah’s Promise, and the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Dr. Schoolman is on the committee of external researchers currently advising the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service on the 2020 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey.

Dr. Schoolman’s work has been published in journals spanning a range of disciplines, including Rural Sociology, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Ecological Economics, Sociological Forum, Journal of Consumer Culture, and Sustainability Science. At Rutgers, Dr. Schoolman teaches on sustainable food systems, environmental politics, and research methods. He is on the graduate faculties in Sociology, Nutritional Sciences, Geography, and at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and he is a faculty affiliate at the Rutgers Climate Institute and the Center for Agricultural Food Ecosystems.