Biography

Ph.D., Nuclear Physics, University of Colorado B.S., Physics, Purdue University.Dr. Smith’s research has centered on the application of computer science and mathematical methods to comparative genetic sequence studies. These have ranged from the development of new functional pattern recognition tools to time-calibrated viral evolutionary studies. Recent efforts have focused on the prediction and modeling of protein structure using Markov models and on the evolution of the cellular information processing machinery. In addition, Dr. Smith has been involved in developing database structures suitable for large-scale genome sequencing and analysis, including new Internet Web page interfaces. As the director of the BioMolecular Engineering Research Center, Dr. Smith works closely with many Boston area experimental molecular biologists in supportive and exploratory data analysis.

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Research Interest

The syntactic and semantic structure of the genetic information in biomolecular sequences, structures, and their evolution.