Sonya T. Smith

Present Position

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Howard University

Chapter Affiliation

Howard University

Background Information

CV
Biography
Video: Welcome to the Howard University ADVANCE-IT Website

Statement

I believe the most important role for the next Sigma Xi President is to communicate the importance of
science-driven policy for the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants. Sigma Xi has an essential role in promoting the value of research and its benefit to the citizens of this country and to the global community. Sigma Xi has produced policy reports on critical issues in science such as Water (2008), Energy (2009), Food Security (2010), that have as their foundation the expertise of its members. We now have an opportunity to revisit these issues in light of emerging threats. My multidisciplinary academic background and research interests give me a unique perspective in promoting Sigma Xi in a way that breaks down siloes. I will therefore be a Sigma Xi President that can effectively communicate the importance of scientific research to a variety of global communities and constituents.

An essential corollary to expanding communication and promoting Sigma Xi research initiatives is raising funds to do so. My record shows that I have been able to raise funds for research projects and
transformational initiatives both at the department and institutional level. These projects involved both
national and international partners. I will bring the same entrepreneurial spirit to Sigma Xi.

I have a strong commitment to gender equity and developed a program that would better position my
university in the promotion and retention of women in STEM faculty. I formed a team for this initiative and we successfully won $3.4 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to launch the Howard University ADVANCE-IT (HU ADVANCE-IT). The purpose of HU ADVANCE-IT is to attract more women faculty in STEM disciplines at Howard; to ensure more STEM women faculty are prepared for promotion, especially from associate to full professor; and to make a path for women in leadership at
Howard. HU ADVANCE-IT also promotes family-friendly policies that benefit both male and female
faculty members such as pauses in the tenure-clock for the birth or adoption of a child. In order to have a strong Sigma Xi we must also be able to attract researchers to the society at all stages of their career and facilitate their active participation. To do so we must be strong advocates for an inclusive research environment.

Engaging and retaining young members to be active in Sigma Xi can be best be accomplished by engaging them early in their career in our programs, such as the Research Communications Initiative. I have served as president of the Howard University Chapter of Sigma Xi and have sponsored several student members. I have served as faculty advisor to three student organizations: the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society for Automotive Engineering (SAE). If elected as the next President of Sigma Xi I will encourage more students to participate by continuing outreach to student chapters of all of the disciplinary organizations. I will ensure that we have a presence at their national conventions to recruit participants in Sigma Xi programs, such as the Grants-in-Aid of Research. As president, I will also work with the Committee on Development to offer more scientific professional development opportunities for students and young faculty to keep them connected to the Sigma Xi society at large.

I value my membership in Sigma Xi and recognize its impact on my career and on that of my colleagues. I still remember a 1994 induction ceremony form my graduate student days in the Rotunda at the University of Virginia in which our guest speaker, Barry Marshall, described his new research on Helicobacter pylori. The honor of my induction into Sigma Xi impressed upon me that I was now part of a research community much larger than my own research lab or discipline. I would be delighted to serve as the next President of Sigma Xi to afford the same opportunities that I had early in my career to other young researchers and to expand Sigma Xi’s footprint in the global policy debates on critical science issues.