Dr. Aaron Smith

Dr. Aaron T. Smith was born and raised in Springfield, Illinois. In 2007 he obtained his B.A. in Chemistry from Boston University where he also studied German language and literature. Dr. Smith performed his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, where he studied under the advisement of Prof. Judith N. Burstyn. There he obtained his M.Sc. in Chemistry in 2009 and his Ph. D. in Chemistry in 2012. Dr. Smith then moved to Northwestern University, where he obtained an NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Prof. Amy C. Rosenzweig. Dr. Smith began his independent career in 2016 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. At UMBC, his laboratory uses biochemical and biophysical methods to interrogate the mechanism of iron acquisition by pathogenic bacteria, and to understand the role of iron in eukaryotic protein translation and post-translational modifications. Recent accolades to Dr. Smith include the receipt of an American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant, an NSF CAREER award, and an NIH Outstanding Investigator R35 award, and Dr. Smith was recently appointed the director of the UMBC-UMB T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface training program.