Ernest T. Smerdon, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE

Ernest T. Smerdon, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE is Dean Emeritus at the University of Arizona, after three years as Senior Education Associate at the National Science Foundation. He was Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Engineering there from January 1988 to January 1998. Before, he held the Janet S. Cockrell Centennial Chair in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin and, prior to that, the Bess Harris Jones Centennial Professorship in Natural Resource Policy Studies in the LBJ School of Public Affairs. From 1976 until August 1982, he was Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University of Texas System.

Dr. Smerdon has been President of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and Chair of its Engineering Deans’ Council. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1986. He has served as chair of the NAE committee on Career-Long Education for Engineers, a member of its Academic Advisory Board, the Committee on the Technology Policy Options in a Global Economy, the Steering Committee for the NAE Engineer of 2020 Project (Phases I and II), and the Committee to Assess the Capacity of the U.S. Engineering Research Enterprise. He was a member of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology and represented the Board on the Engineering Accreditation Commission.

Dr. Smerdon received the highest honor of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) when he was elected to the grade of Distinguished Member in 1994. Other honors include the 2006 Golden Vector Award of the Pan-American Union of Engineering Associations (UPADI), 2005 John C. Park Outstanding Civil Engineer Award of the Arizona Section of ASCE, the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE, the Royce J. Tipton Award and Outstanding Journal Paper Awards from both ASCE and ASAE. He received the Icko Iben Award of the American Water Resources Association and was selected as Engineer of the Year in Education by the Arizona Society of Professional Engineers. His alma mater, the University of Missouri, selected Dr. Smerdon for an Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering presented by the College of Engineering, and he serves on the college external advisory committee. He is an Honorary Member of the Civil Engineering Academy of Distinuished Alumni at the University of Missouri-Columbia and received an honorary degree, Doctor of Science – Honoris Causa, from that institution in 2003.

Dr. Smerdon has a long history of involvement in engineering education, including working closely with the group that developed the seminal ASEE report on “Engineering Education for a Changing World.” He has written widely on engineering education and has spoken on the subject in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, Russia, The Czech Republic, Taiwan, Norway, Trinidad, Switzerland, South Africa and Portugal.