Paul Smith is the manager of the Mountain Operations Group and Astronomer at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona.  He graduated with a B.S. in physics from Saint Louis University in 1979 and was awarded a Ph.D. in physics from the University of New Mexico in 1986.  His research has generally concentrated on active galactic nuclei and the polarized light received from these energetic objects.  He joined Steward Observatory in 1986 as part of the Faint Object Spectrograph team that commissioned and calibrated this first-generation instrument for the Hubble Space Telescope.  During a 3.5-yr period from 1997-2000 he joined the National Optical Astronomy Observatories as a staff scientist responsible for the observing queue program at the WIYN 3.5-m telescope on Kitt Peak, Arizona.

Paul returned to Steward Observatory as a team member for the Multiband Imaging Photometer that flew aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope (2000-2008).  From 2008-2018, Paul led a major optical observing program to support the Fermi Gammaray Space Telescope that was launched into orbit in 2008.  After about 1000 nights of observing blazars for Fermi, he now is still struggling to relearn how to sleep at night.  As hinted in the picture, Paul has a special affinity for the music of Anton Bruckner (1824-96).