Before joining NC State Extension, Stephen was a Fire Specialist with The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania for 3 years, assisting state agencies with prescribed fire operations and training. He served on the Pennsylvania Prescribed Fire Council’s board of directors from 2024 to 2026 and helped create the state’s Certified Burn Manager program. Stephen graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a B.S. in Biology in 2015 and an M.S. in Forestry from the University of Georgia in 2018. Stephen is a nationally qualified wildland firefighter (Single Resource Boss), with over 7 years of prescribed fire experience in states across the U.S.

In his Extension role, Stephen hopes to coordinate and implement prescribed fire at NC State. Mainly, he will serve as a mentor of the “FirePack”, a group of students interested and certified as wildland firefighters. He will assist in getting these students prescribed fire experience and professional development opportunities with state and local partners.

We are excited to have yet another knowledgeable addition to our team! Please welcome him to the College of Natural Resources and keep an eye out for his work as he joins our outreach efforts.