L. Dennis Smith

L. Dennis Smith – a developmental biologist – was the 2002 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility recipient.

Early on his career, Smith was an aspiring jazz musician, majoring at Indiana University for his first three years in music, playing the trumpet. He was then advised to leave the music track as it wasn’t the most stable way of making a living and rather become a music teacher. Instead he moved into science, believing a teacher wouldn’t give him enough of a challenge.

Smith has held a variety of roles in the field of science. This includes: President Emeritus of the University of Nebraska, Emeritus Professor in the UNL School of Biological Sciences, Embryology Instructor at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, Staff Scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory, Head of Purdue University’s Department of Biological Sciences, Dean, Executive Vice Chancellor and Acting Chancellor of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of California–Irvine.

As well as taking a role in the American Association for Higher Education, the American Association for State Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education and the Association of American Universities, Smith has served on the following boards: the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, the Nebraska Arts Council, and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also enabled and supported the establishment of the Nebraska Bioethics Advisory Commission.

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