Spencer Smith

he/him

  • Associate Professor of Physics
  • Chair of Physics & Astronomy
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 Mount Holyoke

Recent Campus News

In the Berkshires, D. Caleb Smith, assistant professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, hosted a reading and discussion of Frederick Douglass’s famous speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.”

Nieves Romero-Díaz, Mount Holyoke College professor of Spanish on the Alumnae Foundation, spoke with New Books Network about the new book she has coedited on the subject of early modern maternity.

Mount Holyoke College students Kelly Aja ’27 and Kimberly Dominguez ’27 have been selected for the Beckman Scholars Program through a competitive application process.

Recent Publications

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

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