Ellen Wohl is a native of Ohio. She received a Bachelor of Science in geology from Arizona State University and a PhD in geosciences from the University of Arizona. She has been on the faculty at Colorado State University since 1989. Wohl has conducted fieldwork worldwide, and her research focuses on rivers, including the effects of beavers on river process and form. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America.