ROWELL joined Duke's Nicholas School in February 2008 as managing editor of the dean's blog on science, the environment and sustainability. She is spearheading social media efforts, such as the blog's Twitter account @TheGreenGrok. She manages multiple partnerships (e.g., National Geographic, Scientific American, PopSci.com, Huffington Post). A multimedia producer, Erica also produces videos for the school (see Production section).

Prior to Duke, Rowell wrote for the nonprofit group Environmental Defense Fund, covering climate change, ecosystems and business partnerships. Among her accomplishments was the Guide to Energy-saving Lights, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called "unparalleled" and Smithsonian mag dubbed "the best CFL guide on the Internet."

Rowell honed her journalism skills at Monitor Radio. Cutting her teeth as an audio engineer, she reported and produced art features on the side. In 1992 she tech directed/field produced coverage of the presidential elections from Little Rock, Arkansas. After leaving her full-time position, she continued to freelance there as a producer and director until the service shuttered in 1997.

Her early interest in interactive media began in the mid-1990s at the tech company Montage, where she wrote Web copy and cut her first videos with the first nonlinear digital editor. She went on to report for and head the copy desk at FOXNEWS.com. At ABCNEWS.com, she covered technology, covering breaking news, writing feature stories, editing four columns, and overseeing a small production staff.

In 2007 her book The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen was published by Scarecrow Press. ARBA described it as "well written and engaging." Its prose style, wrote a Film International reviewer, is "lively, colloquial, and clever."

Rowell has also taught film classes at Columbia University and writing classes at Duke University. Over the years, she has had the opportunity to interview a number of luminaries, including former Senator Bill Bradley; musicians Chuck D., Luka Bloom, Suzanne Vega, Pops Staples, Shawn Colvin, and Judy Collins; and ice cream mavens Ben & Jerry.

She has a BA from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and an MFA from Columbia University in New York City.