Dr. Scott Knoche is the Director of PEARL with research interests in the area of environmental and natural resource economics. Scott received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University, with his dissertation "Discrete Choice Models of Hunting and Fishing in Michigan" examining hunter and angler preferences for and valuation of recreation site attributes. Prior to receiving his PhD, Scott worked as an economist at the U.S. Coast Guard's National Pollution Funds Center, evaluating and adjudicating trustee compensation claims from oil spill - related natural resource damages. After his PhD, Scott worked as a post-doctoral fisheries economist joint with the University of Maryland's Agricultural and Resource Economics Department and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division.