

Brooke Wheeler
Assistant Professor | College of Aeronautics
Director | Teaching Assistant Seminar
Contact Information
Personal Overview
Dr. Wheeler's dissertation focused on how scale of observation, disturbance, and soil nutrients influence plant species diversity. Her research included field study, statistical modeling, and analysis of data in the Carolina Vegetation Survey database. She spent two and a half years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University, teaching and learning about using writing in STEM courses, and helping to run the Writing Studio. Her research interests include writing to learn in STEM courses, flipped classrooms, aviation environmental science, sustainability, environmental communication, and disturbance ecology.
Educational Background
Ph.D. in Ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011
B.A. in Psychology and Biology, Rice University, 2001
Ground school, FIT Aviation, 2015
Professional Experience
Director, Teaching Assistant Seminar, Summer 2020- present
Division Director, College of Aeronautics, Spring 2019-Spring 2020
Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University, 2011-2015
- Teaching: Environmental Justice and Environmental Communication
Associate Director, Duke Writing Studio, 2012-2013
Assistant Director, Duke Writing Studio, 2011-2012
- Administration, training writing tutors, managing Undergraduate Writing Tutors
Adjunct Instructor, Elon University, Winter 2009
- Teaching: Current Issues in Environmental Science
Writing Tutor, Writing Center, UNC Chapel Hill 2009-2010
- Working with students throughout their writing process, including brainstorming, thesis development, organization, and revisions
- Facilitating international graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in writing groups
Other courses designed and taught: Foundational literature in Ecology: Classical papers and their contemporary counterparts, Basic Botany, Fundamentals of Ecology, and Rare Species Conservation in Complex Landscapes.
Current Courses
AVS6301 Fundamentals of Aviation Research
AVT 4002 Aviation Research
AVT 3501 Special Topics- Aviation Sustainability
EDS0001 Teaching Assistant Seminar
AVS 2402 Introduction to Aviation Environmental Science
AHF 4001 Human Factors Methods
AVS 6000 Quantitative Research in Aviation
Selected Publications
Eichler, A., N. Hadland, D. Pickett, D. Masaitis, D. Handy, A. Perez, D. Batcheldor, B. Wheeler, & A. Palmer. 2021. Challenging the agricultural viability of Martian Regolith Simulants. ICARUS 354(2021), 114022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114022 .
Wheeler, B.E., Redden, K., Bonilla, D., Fox, G., & Silver, I. 2020. OMIR Event Type and Frequency at a Collegiate Flight Program. Journal of Management and Engineering Integration. 13(1), 104-110.
Wheeler, B.E., Duboc, N., & St. Amand, Z. 2020. Drone Delay: Consumer Willingness to Fly after Awareness of Recent UAS Event. Journal of Management and Engineering Integration. 13(1), 122-128.
Li, T., Wheeler, B. E., & Carstens, D. S. (2020). Examining the Impact of Overhearing In-Flight Cell-Phone Calls on Passenger Safety. International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 7(2). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/ijaaa/vol7/iss2/7
Wheeler, B.E., Cambata, C., Silver, I.M., Fox, G. & G. Alyamani. (2019). Safety Culture at a Collegiate Flight School. Journal of Management and Engineering Integration. 12(2), 94-98.
Wheeler, B.E., Gomez-Womack, J., & White, D. (2019). Examining Ground Operations Incidents by Airport Size. Journal of Management and Engineering Integration. 12(2), 99-104.
Wheeler, B.E., Golcher Ardic, E., Wertin, R., Fox, G., & I.M. Silver. (2019). Operational Incident and Mishap Reports by Phase of Flight. Journal of Management and Engineering Integration. 12(2), 105-111.
Edwards, M., & B.E. Wheeler. 2018. Flight Students’ Willing to Fly Within or Over Airspace Containing Operating Unmanned Aerial Systems. IEMS Conference Proceedings 2018.
Wheeler, B.E., & R.K. Peet. A multiscale analysis of plant diversity along soil nutrient gradients. In Vegetation structure and function at multiple spatial, temporal and conceptual scales. E.O. Box, editor. 2016. Springer.
Wheeler, B.E., G. Cumming, & K. Taverna. 2003. The Need for a Statewide Plan for Land and Water Conservation. CEP Environmental Policy Papers. CEP, UNC Chapel Hill, Issue 1.
Research
Sustainability, environmental science, environmental communication, teaching writing and writing to learn in STEM courses, flipped classrooms, plant ecology, community ecology, conservation biology, disturbance, invasive species, human factors, and safety.