Joshua Smith

As technical team lead for IBM’s Nanobiotechnology Program, Joshua Smith researches innovative healthcare technologies at the intersection of engineering and biology to help better understand disease progression. He graduated summa cum laude with his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University (2004) and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (2011) on an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. He has over 10 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, having worked for Microchip, Medtronic and ON Semiconductor. Josh joined IBM Research in 2011, where he is currently a Research Staff Member, IBM Master Inventor and Silicon Development Team Lead. He also holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University. Dr. Smith and his colleagues recently developed a chip-based technology called nanoDLD (see animated video here) that can rapidly isolate biomarkers as small as 20 nanometers, providing a potential technological backbone for automation of sample preparation, diagnostics and therapeutics. He is a sought-after speaker on the subject of lab-on-a-chip applications for healthcare and his work has been highlighted by Forbes, CNN Money, IEEE Spectrum, and Pharma Technology Focus among other media outlets. Smith has co-authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed scientific publications and is a co-inventor of more than 30 issued patents. Josh currently oversees and is focused on the design and development of microfluidic chips aimed at a suite of core capabilities to manipulate, separate and detect individual macromolecules.