She is the Executive Director of the nascent Chesapeake Bay Observing System, part of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, and project coordinator for the Chesapeake Inundation Prediction System. Ms. Smith has been co-director of the Virginia Regional Competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl since 1998 and has been involved in ocean education, outreach and teacher training through a myriad of projects since coming to ODU. After receiving a B.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina and an M.S. in Oceanography from Florida State University , she joined the Satellite Oceanography Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where she spent several years working on early generation oceanographic data management systems before coming to ODU in 1993.