Kurt Stephenson

Experience

• Professor, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech. June 2008 - Present.
• Associate Professor, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech. June 2001 - 2008.
• Assistant Professor, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech. November 1995 - June 2001.
• Senior Research Associate, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech. October 1994 - October 1995.
• Research Associate, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, 1989-1990.
• Research Associate, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, 1988-1989.

Awards

• Sellner Chesapeake Guardian Award (co-recipient with Denice Wardrop), Chesapeake Community Research Symposium (CCMP), May 2024.
• 2005 Certificate of Teaching Excellence, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Tech.
• Best Theory-Oriented Paper for 2000, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. Leonard Shabman and Kurt Stephenson. “Environmental Valuation and Its Economic Critics.”  Selected by the Environmental & Water Resources Institute Planning and Management Council, American Society of Civil Engineers. 

Selected:

• Stephenson, K., D. Wardrop, L. Shabman, W. Dennison, K. Rose, Z. Easton. 2026 Adapting to an Uncertain Future: Water Quality Management in Chesapeake Bay. J. American Water Resources Association https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70138
• Mehzabin, S., K. Stephenson, and Z. Easton. 2026. Performance of a Large-Scale Woodchip Bioreactor Treating Legacy Nitrogen in Emergent Groundwater Under Varying Environmental and Management Conditions. Journal of Environmental Management.  Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5813504 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5813504
• Easton, Z. K. Stephenson, B. Benham, J.K. Bohlke, A. Buda, A. Collick, L. Fowler, E.Gilinsky, A. Miller, G. Noe, L.H. Palm-Forster, L.Shabman, T. Wynn-Thompson. 2025 The Nonpoint Source Challenge: Obstacles and Opportunities to Meeting the Nutrient Reduction Goals of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. J. American Water Resources Association, https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.70034
• Ferris, W. N., & Stephenson, K. 2024. The role of nutrient credit trading for total maximum daily load compliance by the urban stormwater sector: Evidence from Virginia's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 60(2), 392-405.
• Nelson, J. D., Aguilar, M. F., Saby, L., Stephenson, K., & Goodall, J. L. 2024. Exploring the adoption of water quality trading as an alternative stormwater regulatory compliance strategy for land development projects: A case study for Roanoke, Virginia. Journal of Environmental Management, 356, 120548.
• Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). 2023. Achieving water quality goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A comprehensive evaluation of system response (K. Stephenson & D. Wardrop, Eds.). STAC Publication Number 23-006, Chesapeake Bay Program Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), Edgewater, MD. 129 pp.  
• Stephenson, K., L. Shabman, J. Shortle, and Z. Easton. 2022. Confronting our Agricultural Nonpoint Source Incentive Problem. J. of the American Water Resource Association.
• Fleming, P.M., K. Stephenson, A.S. Collick, and Z.M. Easton. 2022. Targeting for nonpoint source pollution reduction: A synthesis of lessons learned, remaining challenges, and emerging opportunities, J. of Environmental Management 308: 114649
• Stephenson, K. W. Farris, E. Bock, Z. Easton. 2021. Treatment of Legacy Nitrogen as a Compliance Option to Meet Chesapeake Bay TMDL Requirements Environmental Science and Technology 55 (20): 13593–13601.  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04022
• Easton, Z., E. Bock, K. Stephenson. 2019. Feasibility of Using Woodchip Bioreactors to Treat Legacy Nitrogen to Meet Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Goals. Environmental Science and Technology, 53 (21): 12291-12299.
  
• Stephenson, K. and L. Shabman. 2019. "Does Ecosystem Valuation Contribute to Ecosystem Decision-making?: Evidence from Hydropower Licensing" Ecological Economics.  163: 1-8 (senior authorship shared equally)

Courses taught

Undergraduate level:

• AAEC 1005 Economics of the Food and Fiber System
• AAEC 3004 Agricultural Production and Consumption Economics
• AAEC 3984 Applied Behavioral Economics
• AAEC 4314 Environmental Economic Analysis and Management

• AAEC 5144 Resource and Environmental Economics

My extension and outreach are directed largely at supporting public policy decision-making in the area of water resources.  I have served on numerous water quality policy and regulatory advisory committees at the state, regional, and federal levels.

Selected Service

• Academic Advisory Committee, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 2004-present.
• Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Advisory Committee authorized under Virginia §62.1-256.2, 2020-2023
• Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee, Chesapeake Bay Program, 2013-2021
• Committee to Review EPA's Economic Analysis of Final Water Quality Standards for Nutrients for Lakes and Flowing Waters in Florida, National Research Council.  National Academies Press: Washington, DC, 2012.
• Committee on Improving Principles and Guidelines for Federal Water Resources Project Planning; National Research Council, National Research Council.  National Academies Press: Washington, DC, 2010.
• Committee on Reducing Stormwater Discharge Contributions to Water Pollution, Urban Stormwater Management in the United States.  National Research Council.  National Academies Press: Washington, DC, 2008.

Selected Outreach Publications/Reports

Stephenson, K., D. Wardrop, L. Shabman, K. Rose, W. Dennison, J. Testa, R. Batiuk, Z. Easton. 2025. Tiered Implementation of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL: A STAC Prospectus. STAC Publication Number 25-001, Edgewater, MD. 19 pp.

Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). 2024. Achieving Water Quality Goals in the Chesapeake Bay: Report in Brief. (D. Wardrop and K Stephenson, Eds). Chesapeake Bay Program Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). STAC publication.

Schons, S. K. Stephenson, J. Gannon. 2024. An Overview of Forest Carbon Credit Programs in Virginia, Virginia Cooperative Extension, CNRE-177, April 10.

Current Research Focus

• Environmental trading programs (including water quality trading, carbon offset programs, and wetland mitigation)
• Evaluation of agricultural nonpoint source policies
• Design of payment-for-environmental-service programs.