Gregory P. Smith
Senior Research Scientist
Molecular Physics Laboratory

Dr. Smith's areas of expertise include gas-phase chemical kinetics; laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy and detection; statistical theories of reaction; laser-based diagnostics and kinetics in combustion; modeling complex kinetic processes; atmospheric chemistry; molecular beams; and ion-molecule processes.

He has extensive experience with laser techniques in measuring kinetics and photodissociation processes, and in detecting trace species quantitatively in flames. He has performed extensive modeling, mechanistic, and sensitivity analysis studies of complex gas phase chemical systems, and is well experienced in the evaluation estimation and extrapolation of elementary rate constants using RRKM and other theory. Areas of interest include flames, atmospheric photochemistry, shock-heated air, ablation, planetary atmospheres, CVD, and various other chemical processes.

At SRI over the past 30 years, Dr. Smith has performed and lead research efforts to:

• Develop optimized kinetics mechanisms for combustion modeling - GRI-Mech, with collaborators at four institutions
  
  
• Model combustion kinetics of low pressure flame observations and atmospheric photochemistry using sensitivity analysis
  
  
• Quantitative measurement of chemical intermediates in low pressure flames
  
  
• Apply of RRKM theory to radical combination and chemical activation reactions
  
  
• Provide visible and infrared laser fluorescence spectroscopy studies of diagnostics and energy transfer processes in large molecules, in laser pyrolysis, and in flames
  
  
• Develop a laser pyrolysis technique and apply it to organometallic bond energy measurements and high temperature radical reactions
  
  
• Measure photodissociation cross sections of atmospheric cluster ions

Current projects include efforts to provide quantitative chemiluminescence diagnostics for use in space-based combustion experiments, studies of kinetics in the mesosphere and stratosphere, and examination of low pressure and temperature hydrocarbon photochemistry of the outer planets.

Dr. Smith is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, Combustion Institute, and American Geophysical Union. He served 12 years as associate editor of the International Journal of Chemical Kinetics, and is author of over 110 publications in chemical kinetics, laser induced fluorescence, combustion chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and ion processes. In 2003, he was awarded the SRI Fellowship for outstanding scientific and technical accomplishments.

His education includes B.S. (chemistry) and A.B. (mathematics) degrees from Syracuse University (1970) and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University (1974), where he studied molecular beam dynamics of ion-molecule reactions with Prof. R. J. Cross. Postdoctoral studies at Columbia with Prof. Richard Zare examined energy partitioning in reactions using laser-induced fluorescence.

Publications
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