Assistant Professor, Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering
Contact Information
Campus: Fairfax
Email: dsmit47@gmu.edu
Biography
Daniel Smith researches water quality and treatment and how they link with individual and institutional decision-making. Motivated by extensive on-the-ground experience in the United States and around the world, he complements engineering and lab research with methods from economics and social sciences to understand opportunities and barriers to scaling environmental innovations. A hallmark of his approach is partnering with local organizations such as governments, nonprofits, and enterprises to ensure that his research is locally grounded, practically applicable, and provides community and industry engaged learning opportunities that students value. After studying civil and environmental engineering as an undergraduate, Smith's first jobs were to build a water treatment plant in rural Honduras and then design and operate hazardous waste remediation systems in the United States. He has since worked as an environmental engineer, researcher, and global water and sanitation development manager in private, nonprofit, multilateral, academic, and government organizations. He has lived and worked in the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, The Gambia, and Uganda.
Research Interests:
-
Water treatment processes
-
Water quality
-
Global water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
-
Willingness to pay for public service and environmental improvements
-
Utility consolidation
-
Hazardous waste site engineering and remediation
Degrees
-
PhD, Environmental Engineering and Science, Stanford University
-
MS, Environmental Engineering and Science, Stanford University
-
MS, Civil Engineering – Water, Sanitation, and Health, University of Leeds
-
BS, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
Teaching Interests
-
Environmental engineering
-
Contaminant fate and transport Water and wastewater systems
-
Demand assessment
-
Translating environmental research into the real world
-
Service learning and cross-cultural exchange