Academics

Dr. Elaine Solowey is manager of the experimental orchards of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura. Dr. Solowey has a Ph.D in Land Reclamation from Columbia Pacific University/Utah State University. She is on the faculty of the Arava Institute, was recently named adjunct professor at the University of Georgia and was the primary lecturer at the Indigenous Fruit Tree Conference, held by the Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations at Matopos Reserve in Bulweyo, Zimbabwe in May 2001.

Dr. Solowey has worked with indigenous fruit tree species for thirty years, spending fifteen years as a researcher for Ben Gurion University. She is currently on the staff of Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem Jerusalem as an expert in medicinal plants and endangered species. She has contributed material to National Academy of Science in Washington, DC publications, is the principal investigator of MERC project M20-018 concerning the introduction of new crops to arid and saline areas in Israel and Morocco, and is the author of papers about salt tolerant crop candidates and a book published in August 2003: Small Steps Towards Abundance: Crops for a More Sustainable Agriculture.

Born in California Dr. Solowey made aliya in 1971, has been a member of Kibbutz Ketura since 1974 and is married to Michael Solowey, a founding member of Kibbutz Ketura. The couple has six sons.