L Stevenson lab portrait

Louise M Stevenson

Research Staff Member and Toxicology Lab PI

Dr. Louise Stevenson is an environmental toxicologist and quantitative ecologist. She studies the impact of contaminants on aquatic organisms by combining empirical and theoretical techniques to understand the impact of chemicals on individuals using suborganismal (e.g. genetic) information, explain the bioenergetic basis of individual-level effects, and predict population-level implications of exposure. She has studied emerging (PFAS, nanomaterials) and legacy (heavy metals, PCBs, coal ash) contaminants, along with the effects of environmental remediation technologies and novel ecofriendly compounds. At ORNL, she is the Principal Investigator of the Environmental Toxicology Lab and leads a task in the Mercury Technology Development Program focused on decreasing mercury concentrations in fish in a local impacted stream, along with other projects. Before joining ORNL, she was an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University. She completed her PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016. Dr. Stevenson is active in the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), having served on many national committees including the Student Advisory Committee, Early Career Committee, multiple North America national meeting planning committees and on multiple regional chapter Boards of Directors.