From 1995 until his retirement in 2022, Steve Hamilton supervised an ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry lab at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station. From 2018–2023, Steve also worked part-time as a Senior Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York. His research focused on aquatic environments and the movement of water through landscapes, as well as the sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. Freshwater studies spanned lakes, streams, wetlands and floodplains. Course taught included Ecosystem Ecology and Global Change, Wetland Ecology and Management, and, at Cary, a short course on Fundamentals of Ecosystem Ecology.