Professor Sheila Smith is the Head of Department for Applied Science at Glasgow Caledonian University. She received her PhD from the Department of Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde in 1989. After this she worked as a Research Assistant and BNFL Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde. In 1995 she joined GCU as a lecturer in the then Department of Physical Sciences. Her current research interests are in optical chemical sensor development with a particular emphasis on fluorescence based sensing technologies. This has included the development of optical sensing technologies for the oil and gas industry, dissolved oxygen sensors for environmental applications, metal enhanced fluorescence, fundamental porphyrin photo physics and photo-chemistry, and microscopy and imaging. Current teaching covers spectroscopy (UV-Vis, fluorescence and Raman), Measurement Theory, Uncertainty in Measurement and Applied Optics.
