Natasha Smith

Natasha Smith is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia. She holds a Teaching Track position and serves as Director of Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on pedagogical strategies in engineering education, systems engineering design, reliability assessment using probabilistic methods, and material property analysis through statistical approaches. A registered professional engineer in Maine, she has 20 years of military service as a U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer (Seabees), including roles as a military instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and Associate Professor at the University of Southern Indiana.

Dr. Smith’s academic contributions include advancing hybrid course design, integrating industry partnerships into finite element education, and developing hands-on laboratory experiments. She has received the Hartfield Excellence in Teaching Award from The Jefferson Scholars Foundation for her impactful instruction. Her work highlights the intersection of military precision, engineering fundamentals, and innovative teaching methods. Current projects include a Jefferson Trust-funded Moon Base simulation lab for NASA competition training.

Her military experience and engineering expertise inform her teaching philosophy, emphasizing practical problem-solving and technical communication. She actively collaborates with industry on experimental design and has published extensively on laboratory pedagogy, reliability analysis, and aerospace systems design since 2001.