Scott Hippensteel is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at UNC Charlotte, where he focuses on coastal geology, geoarchaeology, and environmental micropaleontology, and where he has taught Paleontology for the last 20 years. His early research involved the H. L. Hunley, the famous Confederate submarine, and he used microfossils to interpret that great historical artifact. His previous work includes Rocks and Rifles (Springer, 2019), a look at how geology influenced the Civil War. A native of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Professor Hippensteel holds graduate degrees from the University of Delaware. He lives in Charlotte, NC.