Stephen received his Bachelor's in the plant sciences in 2002 from Cornell University and remained at the institution completing Master's in both the horticultural sciences and science education in 2007. In addition to being an adjunct instructor at TC3, Stephen is the manager at a plant biology lab at Cornell whose research focuses on the formation and function of the plant cell wall working primarily with tomato plants. He teaches the hybrid Biology 101 course for non-majors, which consists of online lectures and in-person lab.