J. Stephen Gosnell

A native of South Carolina, Stephen completed his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at Clemson University before continuing on to degrees in Statistics (MA) and Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (MA, PhD) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  After completing postdoctoral positions at the UCSB Marine Science Institute and the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, he joined Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Faculty in Biology (Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior subprogram) as an assistant professor in 2014.



Stephen’s work focuses on understanding the mechanisms that drive patterns in diversity (including impacts of human activities), how diversity impacts ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services, and how ecology can inform, motivate, and learn from management actions. In order to consider these issues across multiple scales, his lab employs and connects field, lab, and quantitative techniques in various communities.  Most of the lab’s field projects focus on understanding, restoring, and conserving coastal and aquatic communities in the Hudson River watershed (e.g., oyster reefs, salt marshes, tidal marshes, rivers), while lab and computational work explore diversity patterns and impacts using big-data (focal areas include kelp and rain forests) and model development.  He is also interested in communicating research findings to stakeholders and finding ways to connect education and research.

Courses Taught

• Mathematical Biology

Professional Affiliations and Memberships

• New England Estuarine Research Society
• Phi Beta Kappa Society 

Social Media

• Twitter (Lab)
• Twitter (Personal)