Kate Smith

Postdoctoral Fellow Geological Sciences

305 ESM
graduate

Research Interests:

  • Applications for traditional and non-traditional isotope systems: particularly new applications for urban geochemistry and public health
  • Method development for isotopic analysis of environmental and clinical matrices
  • Multicollector mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS, TIMS)
  • Isotope and high temperature geochemistry
  • Other/past research interests: igneous petrology, uranium-series geochemistry, and geochronology
EOSC 220 · Introductory MineralogyEOSC 333 · Elemental and Isotopic Geochemistry

2008 BSc. Chemistry, Michigan Technological University
2010 MSc. Geochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2011-2014 Senior Chemist, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
2014-2017 Senior Chemist, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, Trace Element Clean Lab, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
2021 PhD. Geochemistry, University of British Columbia
2021- Postdoc, University of British Columbia

Peer-Reviewed Publications:

13. Smith, K.E., Weis, D. 2022, Metal and Pb isotope characterization of particulates encountered by foraging honeybees in Metro Vancouver, Science of the Total Environment, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154181. 

12. Smith, K.E., Weis, D., Scott, S.R., Berg, C.J., Segal, Y., Claeys, P. 2021. Regional and global perspectives of honey as a record of lead in the environment, Environmental Research, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110800.

11. Smith, K.E., Weis, D., Chauvel, C., Moulin, S. 2020. Honey Maps the Pb Fallout from the 2019 Fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris: A Geochemical Perspective, Environmental Science and Technology Letters, doi: 10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00485.

10. Smith, K.E., Weis, D. 2020. Evaluating Spatiotemporal Resolution of Trace Element Concentrations and Pb Isotopic Compositions of Honeybees and Hive Products as Biomonitors for Urban Metal Distribution, GeoHealth, doi: 10.1029/2020GH000264.

9. Li, M., Weis, D., Smith, K.E., Shiel, A.E., Smith, W.D., Hunt, B.P.V., Torchinsky, A., Pakhomov, E.A. 2020. Assessing lead sources in fishes of the Northeast Pacific Ocean, Anthropocene, doi: 10.1016/j.ancene.2019.100234.

8. Scott, S.R., Shafer, M.M., Smith, K.E., Overdier, J.T., Cunliffe, B., Stafford, T.W., Farrell, P.M. 2019. Elevated lead exposure in Roman occupants of Londinium: New evidence from the archaeological record, Archaeometry, doi: 10.1111/arcm.12513.

7. Scott, S.R., Smith, K.E., Dahman, C., Gorski, P.R., Adams, S.V., Shafer, M.M. 2019. Cadmium isotope fractionation during tobacco combustion produces isotopic variations outside the range measured in dietary sources of cadmium, Science of the Total Environment, v.688, p.600-608, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.269.

6. Smith, K.E., Weis, D., Amini, M., Shiel, A., Lai, V., Gordon, K. 2019. Honey as a biomonitor for a changing world, Nature Sustainability, 2:223-232, doi: 10.1038/s41893-019-0243-0.

5. Weiss, D., Lee, D., Feldman, R., Smith, K.E. 2017. Severe lead poisoning attributed to bullet fragments retained in soft tissue, British Medical Journal Case Reports, doi: 10.1136/bcr-2016-217351.

4. Smith, K.E., Shafer, M.M., Weiss, D., Anderson, H., Gorski, P.R. 2016. High-precision (MC-ICPMS) isotope ratio analysis reveals contrasting sources of elevated blood lead levels of an adult with retained bullet fragments, and of his child, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Biological Trace Element Research, doi:10.1007/s12011-016-0872-3.

3. Singer, B.S., Jicha, B.R., Fournelle, J.H., Beard, B.L., Johnson, C.M., Smith, K.E., Greene, S.E., Kita, N.T., Valley, J.W., Spicuzza, M.J., Rogers, N.W. 2014. Lying in wait: deep and shallow evolution of dacite beneath Volcán de Santa María, Guatemala; Geological Society, London, Special Publications, v.385, p.209-234. doi: 10.1144/SP385.2.

2. Singer, B.S., Smith, K.E., Jicha, B.R., Johnson, C.M., Beard, B.L., Rogers, N.W. 2011. Tracking open-system differentiation during growth of Santa María volcano, Guatemala; Journal of Petrology, v.52, n.12 p. 2335-2363, doi: 10.1093/petrology/egr047.

1. Jicha, B.R., Smith, K.E., Singer, B.S., Beard, B.L., Johnson, C.M., Rogers, N.W. 2010. Crustal assimilation no match for slab-fluids beneath Volcán de Santa María, Guatemala; Geology, v. 38, p. 859-862, doi: 10.1130/G31062.1.