Organic Chemistry, 3rd Edition

Biography

Professor Michael B. Smith was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1946 and relocated to Madison Heights, Virginia in 1957, where he attended high school at Amherst County High School. He attained an A.A. from Ferrum College in 1967 and a B.S. in chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1969. After working for 3 years at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Newport News VA as an analytical chemist, he pursued advanced education at Purdue University. Dr. Smith earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1977, under the guidance of Professor Joe Wolinsky. Following this, he spent a year as a faculty research associate at the Arizona State University with Professor G. Robert Pettit, working on the extraction of cytotoxic compounds from plants and sponges. He then undertook a second year of postdoctoral research with Professor Sidney M. Hecht at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on the synthesis of bleomycin A2. Dr. Smith initiated his academic career at the University of Connecticut in 1979, where he reached the position of professor of chemistry. In 1986, he embarked on a sabbatical term in the laboratories of Professor Leon Ghosez, at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, as a visiting professor. He retired as a full professor from the University of Connecticut on January 1, 2017, and is currently pursuing his interests as an author.