Michael D. Smith , Ph.D.

Mr. Smith, Ph.D. is a nationally-recognized leader in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance with over 29 years of experience in project and program management, technical analysis, policy development, and training/education for a wide range of public and private sector clients. He is currently a senior vice president and the national practice leader for WSP USA’s Environmental Policy and Process Group. Mr. Smith has managed and provided compliance review for some of the nation’s largest, most complex, and highly controversial projects, including major energy, transportation, and water infrastructure projects, regulation of genetically engineered plants, commercial space transportation operations, and approval of new fuel economy standards for all vehicles operated in the U.S. He has provided training and strategic advice for NEPA, CEQA, and related environmental compliance requirements as a faculty member at the UC Davis Extension Planning and Sustainability Program, the UCLA Extension Environmental Studies and Sustainability Programs, the NEPA Certificate Program at the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, and as a senior consultant at The Shipley Group. From 2008 until the program ended in 2014, Mr. Smith was a faculty instructor for the NEPA Certificate Program at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, a program offered in conjunction with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). He is a past recipient of a Science & Technology Policy Fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at EPA’s Office of Water and Office of Federal Activities in Washington, DC. From 1998 to 2007, he was a professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences at Humboldt State University (now California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt) in northern California.