Heidi Smith

Heidi Smith is an Assistant Research Professor in Microbiology & Immunology and Manager of the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) Bioimaging Facility at Montana State University. She oversees a state-of-the-art microscopy facility with advanced instrumentation, supporting interdisciplinary research on microbial interactions and environmental systems. Her work focuses on correlative analytical imaging techniques, including confocal and Raman microscopy, to study complex microbial communities in diverse environments.

Smith earned a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Sciences (2016) with a dissertation on microbial communities in glacial environments. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the CBE (2016–2018) and joined the CBE as Bioimaging Facility Manager in 2018. Her research spans cryospheric microbiology, subsurface microbiology, and astrobiology analog studies, leveraging advanced imaging and metagenomic approaches.

Key achievements include a NASA Earth and Space Fellowship (during PhD) and collaborations with the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology. She manages a multimillion-dollar facility housing confocal microscopes, Raman spectroscopy, and digital imaging tools. Her contributions address pressing challenges in environmental remediation, biofilm engineering, and microbial ecology in extreme environments.

Recent grants include a $3M NSF grant for extremophile research and a Murdock grant for microscopy infrastructure. Her work bridges fundamental science and applied technology, fostering collaboration between academia and industry through CBE partnerships.