[1][2] Smith earned a BS in Civil Engineering in 1947 and an MS in Applied Mechanics in1950 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
At the time Virginia Tech was strictly a teaching institution and Smith pushed for a stronger role of performing research.
Following a seminar from George Rankine Irwin, Smith became interested in fracture mechanics and applying photoelasticity.
[4] He was one of the investigators on the 1969 Department of Defense Themis grant that served as the genesis of Virginia Tech's international leadership in composite and advanced materials.
[3] Smith was named an Honorary Member of the Society for Experimental Mechanics in 2002, a position held until his death in 2012.