Whitman Barrett

Whitman is a PhD student in the field of Soil and Crop Sciences in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences at Cornell. He is interested in the ways in which social, political, and economic factors shape agricultural practices, and especially soil conservation practices. Whitman is a Tata-Cornell Institute scholar and is conducting dissertation research related to the reuse of human feces and urine as soil amendments in South India. His research and collaborations with other researchers seek to further a holistic understand of soil and soil fertility as resulting from the interaction of natural and social processes. He works with Johannes Lehman (chair), Jenny Goldstein, Rebecca Nelson, and Prabhu Pingali. Prior to coming to Cornell, Whitman served for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, where he worked on projects related to agricultural education, cover cropping, and agroforestry. He earned his B.A. in history from Oberlin College and his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities.