Bio
Scott M. Pearson is an ecologist who has studied how plants & animals respond to changes in the amount and quality of their habitat over the past 30 years. These studies have involved birds, wildflowers, salamanders, and a host of other species, and have resulted in >60 published articles and book chapters. He has conducted research in the Southeastern U.S. and Yellowstone National Park. His fields of expertise include landscape ecology, conservation biology, and population modeling.
He worked as a faculty member and administrator at Mars Hill University for 26 years, where he taught courses in ecology, evolution, and geographic information systems.
Pearson holds a B.S. from Mars Hill College (now University) and Ph.D. from University of Georgia. After postdoctoral work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he joined the faculty at Mars Hill University in 1994 until 2020. In October 2020, he returned to ORNL to work with the DAAC group in the Environmental Sciences Division. Away from work, he enjoys hiking, paddling, and working on his small farm.