海角社区

Dr. Aaron Smith teaches introductory cellular and molecular biology, general botany and plant physiology, with an emphasis on connecting classroom concepts to hands-on investigation.

Before joining Baldwin Wallace, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Georgia and later a professor of biology at Louisiana State University. Across those positions, his research investigated a broad question: how do plants sense changes in their environment and adjust their growth, metabolism and development in response? Much of that work focused on the molecular, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying plant responses to environmental stress.

At 海角社区, Smith is extending those interests into student-centered projects that use trees in the Fullmer Arboretum and across campus as a living laboratory. Students are investigating how the physical and chemical conditions of an urban campus environment shape tree health, while other projects explore maple sap flow and seasonal changes. The work also reaches beyond the trees themselves, including studies of how tree canopy influences human exposure to heat stress and ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

These projects complement Smith's longstanding interests in plant molecular biology and provide a foundation for future work spanning levels from genes and cells to whole plants and their environment. Together, the campus tree inventory provides a starting point for new questions about plant biology, the campus environment and the benefits its landscape provides.

Selected Publications

Tran KN, Pantha P, Wang G, … Smith AP, … Dassanayake M (29 authors; 2023) Balancing growth amidst salt stress – lifestyle perspectives from the extremophyte model Schrenkiella parvula. Plant J.

Pinson SRM, Heuschele DJ, Isbell C, Li J, Vandal MP, Smith AP (2023) Foliar-applied sulfate and potassium does not reduce rice grain arsenic concentrations nor straighthead severity. Crop Sci.

Tran KN, Wang G, Oh DH, Larkin JC, Smith AP, Dassanayake M (2021) Multiple paths lead to salt tolerance – pre-adaptation vs dynamic responses from two closely related extremophytes. bioRxiv.

Wang G, DiTusa SF, Oh DH, Herrmann AD, Mendoza-Cozatl DG, O'Neill MA, Smith AP, Dassanayake M (2021) Cross species multi-omics reveals cell wall sequestration and elevated global transcript abundance as mechanisms of boron tolerance in plants. New Phytol.

Foroozani M, Vandal MP, Smith AP (2021) H3K4 trimethylation dynamics impact diverse developmental and environmental responses in plants. Planta.

Foroozani M, Zahraeifard S, Oh DH, Wang G, Dassanayake M, Smith AP (2020) Low-phosphate chromatin dynamics predict a cell wall remodeling network in rice shoots. Plant Physiol.

Lucena C, Porras R, García MJ, Alcántara E, Pérez-Vicente R, Zamarreño ÁM, Bacaicoa E, García-Mina JM, Smith AP, Romera FJ (2019) Ethylene and phloem signals are involved in the regulation of responses to Fe and P deficiencies in roots of Strategy I plants. Front Plant Sci.