Date: May 14, 2004
Dr. V. Kerry Smith, a researcher with USC's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the membership of the Academy is considered one of the highest honors accorded to a U.S. scientist or engineer.
His election underscores the CREATE team's high level of expertise and brings the number of current CREATE National Academy members to three, including Dr. Richard Larson and Dr. James Tien who belong to the National Academy of Engineering. In addition, Ralph Keeney, Chair of CREATE's Scientific Advisory Committee is a National Academy of Engineering member.
For CREATE, Dr. Smith works with other researchers evaluating the economic impact of terrorist events. "All of us at CREATE are delighted to learn that the National Academy of Sciences has recognized Dr. Smith, who is a key contributor to CREATE's mission to improve our nation's security," said Dr. Randolph Hall, principal investigator of CREATE.
An environmental economist at North Carolina University, Dr. Smith is a University Distinguished Professor in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences' Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Dr. Smith also serves as the Director of the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics Policy (CENREP), an information resource for policy makers.
Dr. Smith is an expert in the area of assessing natural resource damage assessment, evaluating regulations for air and water quality, assessing risk reductions from hazardous waste policies, and applying microeconomics analyses of transportation and environmental policies.
Dr. Smith received bachelor's and doctoral degrees in economics from Rutgers University. He served on the faculty of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the State University of New York at Binghamton, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt before joining N.C. State University's faculty in 1987. In 1994, he was named Arts and Sciences Professor of Environmental Economics at Duke University before returning to NC State in 1999.
