Stephanie L. Johnson

Stephanie L. Johnson, Ph.D. is a Project Scientist for the Onondaga Environmental Institute (OEI).  Dr. Johnson received a B.S. in Environmental Science from Russell Sage College in 2005, an M.S. in Ecology from State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) in 2009, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from SUNY ESF in 2013.  As a graduate student, Dr. Johnson was a Research Assistant for six years, working on the Onondaga Lake Biomonitoring Program. As part of this program, Dr. Johnson helped design, coordinate, and implement fish, benthic macroinvertebrate, and aquatic macrophyte sampling programs.  Dr. Johnson began work at OEI in 2007 as a Field Technician and then became the Field Project Coordinator in 2011, followed by Project Scientist in 2013. As Project Scientist at OEI, Dr. Johnson develops work plans; coordinates, manages, and executes field efforts; performs data management, analysis, and interpretation; and generates progress reports, data summaries, final reports, and presentations.  Dr. Johnson also serves as OEI’s Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Officer, responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining Quality Assurance Program, Health & Safety, and Data Analysis & Interpretation Plans. Recent projects that Dr. Johnson has helped coordinate include: bacterial monitoring and track down in the Onondaga Lake watershed (NY), wet-weather monitoring of a constructed wetland facility in the Harbor Brook watershed (NY), assessing ecological integrity in the upper Onondaga Creek Watershed, stream restoration of Bear Trap Creek (NY), an investigation of optical brighteners in the Onondaga Lake Watershed, stream and wetland restoration in the Ley Creek Watershed (NY), brook trout restoration in the Onondaga Creek Watershed, macroinvertebrate surveys in the Mohawk River (NY), youth education and stewardship in the Mohawk River watershed, and aquatic invasive species education in Onondaga County.  Dr. Johnson has also served as a scientific consultant on a TMDL study of the Banana River Lagoon (FL). Dr. Johnson’s areas of study include aquatic entomology, fisheries, aquatic ecology, landscape ecology, and limnology. In addition to her duties at OEI, Dr. Johnson occasionally serves as a Visiting Lecturer at Cazenovia College, where she has taught Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy and Ecology. Dr. Johnson has also been a Guest Lecturer at SUNY ESF and LeMoyne College, teaching lectures in Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, Aquatic Entomology, and Insect Ecology.