College of Science

Department of Applied Environmental Science

AES Professor Named Professor Emeritus 

Doug Smith smiling while holding a piece of equipment in his hands. He stands near a bank of a dry creek

 

Dr. Doug Smith is retiring from CSUMB at the end of the 2023- 2024 academic year following 24 years of academic and administrative service at CSUMB. Doug has been a professor in the Department of Applied Environmental Science (formerly the School of Natural Sciences and Institute for Earth Systems Science & Policy) for 22 years and spent 2 years as the Interim Dean of Graduate Studies & Research.

Learn more about Doug's accomplishment and story below. 

Doug came to CSUMB in 2000 after ten years at Vanderbilt University because of the extraordinary fit between his professional goals of teaching and research in the emerging topic of watershed science and the needs and mission of the nascent CSUMB science program. He crafted a strong, student-centered research program in the Watershed Geology Lab and developed a well-scaffolded curriculum in the “Watershed Systems” Concentration. Doug’s research and curriculum, based on high-impact practices and teaching career-ready skills, helped build strong relations with community partners who benefitted from (and commonly funded) the student activities.  The student projects, in turn, provided real-world, applied experience that the students carried with them to their careers.

 

Doug anchored CSUMB's involvement with several key environmental issues of critical importance to the Central Coast Region - including removal of the San Clemente dam, groundwater extraction in the Carmel Valley, and beach erosion under sea-level rise. His students, progressing in a pipeline from class projects to internships to capstones to jobs, frequently advanced to careers in the agencies that manage these issues (and now hire our current students). Doug’s course-based student research and externally funded grant research have resulted in significant and lasting contributions to our local and regional communities. 

 

Highlights of his career include three-years as Department Chair of Science and Environmental Policy (before Applied Environmental Science, Biology & Chemistry, and Marine Science departments formed). Doug also shared director duties in the Watershed Institute for many years and was the first Dean of Graduate Studies & Research at CSUMB.

 

Doug’s high productivity and significant student impact include:

  • 28 journal articles with 35 student coauthors
  • 72 abstracts with 67 student coauthors
  • Over 100 technical reports with over 200 student coauthors
  • Over 60 grants & contracts: federal, state, and local sources worth over $2,000,000
  • 150 undergraduate capstone students
  • 9 Professional Master of Science student projects
  • 11 Master’s theses 

 

Doug’s impact on our programs, students, alumni, and community has been transformational. 

He embodies the Founding Vision and the core values of the university.  

 

Congratulations, Doug, on your retirement and Professor Emeritus status!