D. Jelagat Cheruiyot

Dr. D. Jelagat Cheruiyot is a Senior Professor of Practice in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University's School of Science and Engineering, where she has taught since 2017. She holds a Ph.D. from Auburn University, where her research examined how plants use metals as a defense against insect herbivores and how those metals move through food webs. Her earlier degrees are from Columbus State University.

At Tulane, she teaches courses in plant biology, entomology, conservation, and urban agroecology, many with service-learning components that connect students to New Orleans communities. She is co-PI on an NSF-funded project that trains undergraduate biologists through urban agriculture, and a senior investigator on an NSF Convergence Accelerator project using recycled glass sand to build coastal resilience. She also serves on the board of Glassroots Nola and the advisory board of Glass Half Full.

Her honors include the 2026 SSE Mentor Award, the 2025 Coastal Stewardship Award from the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, and the Levy Professorship for Integrated Discovery and Community Engagement. She also received the Suzanne & Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellows Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Before Tulane, she taught science and coached cross country at Brookstone School in Columbus, Georgia. A former collegiate distance runner, she also speaks to students in Kenya and the U.S. about education and perseverance.

Selected Publications

2022  -  Kay, A. D., Chapman, E. J., Cheruiyot, J. D., Lowery, S., Singer, S. R., Small, G., Stone, A. M., Warthen, R., & Westbroek, W. Potential for urban agriculture to support accessible and impactful undergraduate biology education. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e8721.

2018  -  Geisert, R. W., Cheruiyot D. J., Hibbard B. E., Shapiro-Ilan D. I., Shelby K. S., and Coudron T. A Comparative Assessment of Four Steinernematidae and Three Heterorhabditidae Species for Infectivity of Larval Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Journal of Economic Entomology 111 (2): 542-548.

2015  -  Cheruiyot, D. J., Boyd R. S. and Moar W. J.  Testing the Joint Effect Hypothesis of Elemental Defense Using Spodoptera Exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Journal of Chemical Ecology:1573-1561 (Epub ahead of print).  

2013  -  Cheruiyot, D. J., Boyd R. S. Coudron, T. A. and Cobine, B. A. Biotransfer,   Bioaccumulation and Effects of Herbivore Dietary Co, Cu, Ni, and Zn on Growth and Development of the Insect Predator Podisus maculiventris (Say). Journal Chemical Ecology 39 (6): 764-772.

2013  -  Cheruiyot, D. J., Boyd R. S. and Moar W. J. Exploring Lower Limits of Plant Elemental Defense by Cobalt, Copper, Nickel, and Zinc. Journal of Chemical Ecology 39 (5): 666-674. 

2007  -  Cheruiyot, D. J. and Schwartz B. W.  Conversion of Male Gametophytes to Hermaphrodites in the Fern Ceratopteris richardii. BIOS 78: 58–61.