Spencer Smith

he/him

  • Associate Professor of Physics
  • On Sabbatical 2024-2025
Spencer Smith, Faculty

Spencer Smith's work seeks to characterize the complexity inherent in chaotic fluid motion by uncovering dynamically relevant and topologically robust fluid structures. He investigates how these ideas are pertinent from micro-fluidic chips at the small scale to pollution tracking and prediction in oceanic flows on a much larger scale and touch on some of the deep questions in fluid dynamics, such as the nature of turbulence.

Spencer is also very interested in the intersection of art and physics, and he curated a show at the MHC Art Museum in fall 2017 on the science photographs of Berenice Abbott. 

Areas of Expertise

physics (fluid dynamics); math (dynamic systems theory & topology); computer science (finite elements, data structures, algorithm development, and numerical methods)

Education

  • Ph.D., M.S., Tufts University
  • B.A., Dartmouth College

Happening at Ӱ̳

Recent Campus News

Ӱ̳ College held its annual Faculty Awards Ceremony and celebrated five faculty members for their teaching, research and service.

Actor, playwright, screenwriter, singer, songwriter, producer and director John Cameron Mitchell will be at Ӱ̳ College on Monday, March 10, 2025, for a screening and discussion of his 2001 film “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

Yoon, a renowned architect, will speak at Ӱ̳ as part of the Distinguished Artist series on campus.

Recent Publications

Smith, S.A., Gong, R. (2022). Braiding dynamics in active nematics. Frontiers in Physics, 10.

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