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Scott Ensign, Ph.D.

500 500 Stroud Water Research Center
Scott Ensign, Ph.D.

Adjunct Research Scientist

Contact

ensign@stroudcenter.org

ORCID | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | CV

Interests and Expertise

Scott Ensign is an ecosystem ecologist working to discover how plants, animals, and microbes interact within rivers and how the results of those processes influence how people and society interact with rivers. In collaboration with his colleagues, he makes biogeochemical measurements, performs experiments, and interprets results using statistical models and analysis. Ensign is particularly interested in developing new measurement technologies for aquatic environments, exploring how sea level rise affects rivers, and implementing conservation techniques that improve ecological conditions and the utility people derive from freshwater ecosystems.

Education

  • Ph.D., ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  • M.S., ecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  • B.A., environmental science, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Professional Experience

  • Adjunct research scientist, Stroud Water Research Center, 2026–present.
  • Vice president, assistant director, research scientist, Stroud Water Research Center, 2020–2026.
  • Assistant director, Stroud Water Research Center, 2018–2020.
  • Adjunct assistant professor, Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Science Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 2013–2018.
  • Founder/CEO, Planktos Instruments, LLC, Morehead City, North Carolina, 2013–2018.
  • Founder/managing partner, Aquatic Analysis and Consulting, LLC, Wilmington, North Carolina, 2004–2017.
  • Research ecologist, National Research Program, United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, 2010–2011.
  • Research technician III, Institute of Marine Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, North Carolina, 2004–2005.
  • Research technician II, Institute of Marine Science, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1997–2002.

Publications

Ecosystem-based management for military training, biodiversity, carbon storage, and climate resiliency on a complex coastal land/water-scape

Christensen, N.L., P.A. Cunningham, K. Matthews, I.C. Anderson, M.J. Brush, S. Cohen, C.A. Currin, S. Ensign et al. 2020. Journal of Environmental Management 280: 111755.

Light exposure along particle flowpaths in large rivers

Gardner, J.R., S.H. Ensign, J.N. Houser, and M.W. Doyle. 2019. Limnology and Oceanography 65(1): 128–142.

A digital mayfly swarm is emerging

Ensign, S., D. Arscott, S. Hicks, A. Aufdenkampe, T. Muenz, J. Jackson, and D. Bressler. 2019. Eos, 100.

The role of the upper tidal estuary in wetland blue carbon storage and flux

Krauss K.W., G.B. Noe, J.A. Duberstein, W.H. Conner, C.L. Stagg, N. Cormier, M.C. Jones, C.E. Bernhardt, B.G. Lockaby, A.S. From, T.W. Doyle, R.H. Day, S.H. Ensign, K.N. Pierfelice, C.R. Hupp, A.T. Chow, and J.L. Whitbeck. 2018. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 32:817–839.

Tidal extension and sea level rise: recommendations for a research agenda to guide ecosystem management

Ensign, S.H., and G. Noe. 2018. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 16(1):37–43.

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