Stan Smith is a desert ecologist, specializing in plant physiological ecology and the effects of global change on desert ecosystems. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New Mexico State University and his Ph.D. from Arizona State University. After a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, two years as an assistant professor at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, and a visiting fellowship at the Australian National University in Canberra, he joined the UNLV faculty in 1986. He has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications that have collectively been cited over 11,000 times, and has received UNLV’s two highest research awards – the Harry Reid Silver State Research Award (2003) and the Barrick Distinguished Scholar Award (2006). From 2007 to 2017, he served as UNLV’s Associate Vice President for Research and then as Dean of the College of Sciences.

Currently, he is conducting applied research on energy-environment issues and continuing work on global change effects in dryland regions.

Expertise

Desert Ecology, Physiological Ecology, Global Change, Ecohydrology of Arid Regions