Louis T. Benezet Award

Steve Paulsen '74 is a recipient of the 2024 Louis T. Benezet Award.

Steve transferred to CC as a sophomore after attending the University of Alabama on a football scholarship. Deciding that wasn’t for him, at CC, Steve majored in Biology, played football, and served on the Honor Council. After graduation, he earned an M.S. from Iowa State and a Ph.D in Freshwater Ecology from UC Davis. From there, he took a research faculty position at UNLV, and in 1988 started working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he was asked to lead a team that would develop and implement survey protocols that could provide scientifically rigorous data for effective nationwide implementation of reporting on the Clean Water Act. Steve’s team faced numerous challenges, both within the scientific community and with state agencies. Over a period of 12 years, Steve traveled to all 50 states for meetings dealing with the science, sociology, and politics of implementing new survey methods. As a result of Steve’s leadership and vision, in 2007 the EPA established the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) program. NARS is used to provide Congress with updates on the condition of the nation’s lakes, reservoirs, rivers and streams, estuaries, coasts, and wetlands. It also supports scientific research, as well as policy work by the EPA and numerous other federal, state, and tribal agencies. Steve’s team published over 2,500 peer-reviewed research articles in addition to 12 reports to Congress on the nation’s waters. His team also received over 55 gold, silver, and bronze medals for their service during that period. When he retired in 2022, Steve received a Distinguished Career Service Award, the highest honor the EPA can bestow on an employee. We honor Steve for his outstanding contributions to the nation’s understanding of our aquatic resources, what affects them, and how we manage them.