Kirk R. Smith

Kirk R. Smith
Visiting Senior Scientist
Woods Hole Research Center
149 Woods Hole Road
Falmouth, MA 02540-1644
Phone: 508-540-9900 x154
Fax: 508-540-9700
Website, UC Berkeley

Education

Ph.D. - University of California, Berkeley
1977, Biomedical and Environmental Health Sciences, Energy and Resources

M.P.H. - University of California, Berkeley
1972 - Environmental Health Sciences, Radiation Health Effects

B.A. - University of California, Berkeley
1966, Physical Sciences, Physics and Astronomy

Professional Experience (highlights)

  • 1995 - present: Professor: Environmental Health Sciences, University of California, Berkeley
  • 1986 - 1995: Head: Environment, Risk, and Development Program, East-West Center
  • 1978 - 1985: Founder and Head: Energy Program, East-West Center, Honolulu

Research Interests

The relationships among environmental quality, health, resource use, development, and policy in developing countries including: evaluation of and control strategies for traditional and modern environmental hazards, particularly health-damaging and climate-warming air pollution from household fuel use; new exposure assessment technologies, concepts, and policy tools; health impacts of air pollution in women and young children; technical indices of responsibility for use in climate change policy. Current field projects in China, India, Nepal, and Guatemala.

Selected recent peer-reviewed publications

(See: Full list of peer-reviewed publications since 1990)

Smith, KR and others, Energy and Air Pollution, Geo Yearbook 2006, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, 2006.

Pokhrel A, Smith KR, Khalakdina A, Deuja A, Bates MN, Case-control study of indoor cooking smoke exposure and cataract in Nepal and India, Intern’l J of Epidemiology, 34:702-708, 2005.

Edwards, RD, Smith KR, Zhang J, Ma, Y., Implications of Changes in Household Stoves and Fuel Use in China, Energy Policy, 32:395-411, 2004.

Litton CD, Smith KR, Edwards R, Allen T, Combined optical and ionization measurement techniques for inexpensive characterization of micrometer and submicrometer aerosols, Aerosol Science and Technology, 38(11): 1054-1062, 2004.

International Scientific Oversight Committee (KR Smith and others), Health Effects of Outdoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries of Asia: A Literature Review, Special Report 15, Health Effects Institute, Boston, April (2004)

Bodnar Agnes, Rosemary Castorina, Manish Desai, Paurene Duramad, Susan Fischer, Neil Klepeis, Song Liang, Sumi Mehta, Kyra Naumoff, Elizabeth Noth, Morten Schei, Linwei Tian, Kathleen L. Vork, Kirk R. Smith, Lessons learned from the Skeptical Environmentalist: an environmental health perspective, Intern’l J of Hygiene and Environ. Health, 207(1): 57-67, 2004.

Balakrishnan K, Sambandam S, Ramaswamy P, Mehta S, Smith KR, Exposure assessment for respirable particulates associated with household fuel use in rural districts of Andhra Pradesh, India, J Expo Assess. & Environ Epi, 14(S-1): 14-25, 2004.

Bruce N, McCracken J, Albalak R, Schei MA, Smith KR, Lopez V, West C, Impact of improved stoves, house construction, and child location on levels of indoor air pollution exposure in young Guatemalan children, ibid., 26-33.

Schei M, Hessen JO, Smith KR, Bruce N, McCracken J, Lopez V, Childhood asthma and indoor woodsmoke from cooking in Guatemala, ibid., 110-117.

Sinton JE, Smith KR, Peabody JW, Liu Y, Zhang X, Edwards R, Gan Q, An Assessment of Programs to Promote Improved Household Stoves in China, Energy for Sustainable Development 8(3):33-52,2004.

Mishra V, Dai X, Smith KR, Mika L, Maternal exposure to biomass smoke and reduced birth weight in Zimbabwe, Annals of Epidemiology, 14(10): 740-747,2004.

Smith KR, Mehta S, Maeusezahl-Feuz M, Indoor smoke from household solid fuels, in Ezzati M, Rodgers AD, Lopez AD, Murray CJL (eds) Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden of Disease due to Selected Major Risk Factors, Geneva: World Health Organization, Vol 2 pp. 1435-1493, 2004.

Selected current projects

  • First randomized trial in air pollution science: Indoor air pollution and maternal and child health in the Guatemalan Highlands.
  • Multi-center studies of tuberculosis and indoor air pollution at four sites in India and Nepal
  • Small, smart, cheap, and fast electronic sensors for field environmental health studies
  • Co-benefits from air pollution control in health and climate protection

Selected achievements, awards, synergistic activities

  • Honorary University Professor, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, 2004
  • Brian and Jennifer Maxwell Endowed Chair in Public Health, 2003
  • Elected member, National Academy of Sciences, 1997
  • Elected as one of the "100 Outstanding Young Scientists in America" Science Digest, 1984