Michael Smith

Michael D. Smith, Ph.D., is a nationally-recognized leader in environmental planning, sustainability, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance. He has over 25 years of experience in project and program management, technical analysis, policy development, and training/education for a wide range of public and private sector clients. He is currently a Principal with Ecology and Environment, Inc., a global network of innovators and problem-solvers, dedicated professionals and industry leaders in scientific, engineering, impact assessment and planning disciplines working collaboratively with federal, state and local government and private sector clients to develop technically sound, science-based solutions to the leading environmental challenges of our time. E&E has successfully completed more than 50,000 projects in 122 countries in nearly every ecosystem on the planet.

Michael specializes in providing project management and strategic advice for overall NEPA and CEQA compliance, cumulative impacts, and climate change analysis for large, complex, and often highly-controversial projects.

He is a frequent speaker and trainer on NEPA, CEQA, and related regulatory compliance issues for academic institutions and professional associations including UCLA, UC Davis, Duke University, Utah State University, the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP), the California Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP), and has served on a White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Task Force on NEPA training. He is a past recipient of a Science & Technology Policy Fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which he served in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Water and Office of Federal Activities in Washington, DC. His prior employment experience includes positions with the U.S. Department of Interior – National Park Service in Yosemite, Glacier and Biscayne National Parks. He also served as a tenured Associate Professor of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences from 1998-2006 at Humboldt State University in northern California, where he taught courses in environmental impact assessment, environmental planning, community development, and land use planning, and was on the founding committee and faculty of the university’s cross-disciplinary graduate program in Environment and Community.

He is a past Associate Editor of the professional journal Society and Natural Resources, and has authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles on environmental impact assessment, environmental planning, and land use planning in professional journals such as Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Environmental Practice, Society and Natural Resources, and Water Resources Bulletin, and has presented the results of his work at numerous national and international conferences.

Michael holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resources Sociology from Utah State University, an M.A. in Geography from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.