Sonya T. Smith

Sonya T. Smith joined the Howard University faculty in 1995 and is the first tenured female faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and recently became the first woman promoted to the highest academic rank of Professor (full) in this department at Howard University. Since joining the faculty, Dr. Smith has established an interdisciplinary theoretical and computational fluid dynamics research program. She has received research grants from NASA, DOD, and industry to conduct research on topics in Atmospheric Turbulence, Aeroacoustics, Vortex-Wake Aircraft Encounters, Simulation of Wake Vortex Dynamics, and Rotorcraft Icing Severity and Detection.

Dr Smith also conducts research in computational neuroscience. For over four years she has collaborated with the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). This project uses computational techniques to investigate the role of inner hair cell stereocilia deflection on the mechanotransduction. She is an active member of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology(ARO) and has presented at each of its meeting since becoming a member. She is also a member of the Member of the Diversity in Acoustics Committee of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).