Rod's Bio

Professor Rod Smith was born and raised in Geelong, Victoria, which gave him an insatiable thirst for Australian football and an infallible ability to back losers. His lack of any sense of smell saw him forsake his intended career in the chemical sciences for one in engineering. This same disability was subsequently to prove invaluable in his recent research in the matter of environmental odours. Rod's first qualification was in civil engineering as an Associate of the Gordon Institute of Technology in Geelong. Incensed by being labelled A GIT he sought re-training as an Agricultural Engineer at the University of Melbourne. He has a Masters degree from that University and a PhD (Resource Engineering) from the University of New England. "Unsafe at any Speed" by Ralph Nader, the Club of Rome's "The Limits to Growth" and Bob Dylan were major formative influences that led to various periods of political and environmental activism and a role of sub-atomic proportion in the anti-nuclear movement.

In 1966 he had his first and only lottery win, in the 'big lottery', forcing him to donate two years to the defence of Australia as a commissioned officer in the Corps of Engineers and as sailing master of the Army yacht on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. His early career, before and after national service, was spent with the Victorian Water Commission where he gained substantial experience as an irrigation engineer and agricultural hydrologist, specialising in the investigation and remediation of salinisation in the irrigation areas along the Murray Valley. He moved from Victoria in 1979 to join the USQ (then DDIAE) as a Lecturer in Agricultural Engineering, a move which caused the average IQ of both states to increase. Since then he has progressed through the ranks culminating in his professorial appointment in 1995.

His research interests centre on the application of fluid mechanics in environmental management and include the modelling and analysis of: surface irrigation; overland flow and soil erosion; and the emission and dispersion of odours from cattle feedlots and piggeries. He has attracted research grants in excess of $3M and has published over 140 research papers and reports. Rod received the University Award for Excellence in Research in 1990 and in 1996 was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.