Dr. Patricia Smith is a professor and associate department head in the department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University. Her research agenda includes improving hydrologic models, both physical and stochastic, using the latest techniques including machine learning, scaling of weather data, and uncertainty in measured and modeled data. This work has been applied to improving the Aquatic Life Index scores in Austin, improving rainfall/runoff modelling in Central Texas and improving the calculation of risk associated with bacterial exposure in fresh and estuarine systems.