Steven M SmithSteven Smith began his scientific career as a technician in the Botany Department at Rothamsted Experimental Station in the UK, where he conducted bioassays of auxins, cytokinins and gibberellins. He later completed a Master’s degree studying cytokinn action in tissue culture cells at Indiana University USA, under the mentorship of Carlos O. Miller, the discoverer of kinetin and of organogenesis mediated by auxin and cytokinin. After his PhD at Warwick University UK and postdoctoral studies at CSIRO in Canberra Australia during which time he conducted research on the biosynthesis of chloroplast proteins, he was a lecturer in molecular biology at the Edinburgh University UK for 20 years, studying plant metabolism and development. He was awarded an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship and moved to the University of Western Australia in 2005 where he was a founding member of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology. There he discovered the mode of action of karrikins and made important contributions to research on strigolactones, brassinosteroids and auxins. He has been Visiting Professor at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2013. He took up a new position at the University of Tasmania in 2015, and was recognised as a Thomson-Reuters ‘Highly Cited Researcher in Plant and Animal Sciences in 2016. Read More Read Less