Ken Smith is the Interim Director of Environmental Health & Safety at the University of California office of the President (UCOP). He is also the Systemwide Laboratory Safety Manager for the University of California and assists all 10 UC campuses, 5 UC Medical, Agriculture and Natural Resources Centers, in addition to remote laboratory locations in their efforts to improve their laboratory safety programs. .
Ken oversaw the development of an online Laboratory Safety Training course for the UC campuses and was instrumental in developing and implementing an online Laboratory Hazard Assessment Tool that assisted UC campuses in documenting all laboratory workers on each campus, identifying what chemicals they are using, identifying the hazards of these chemicals, and identifying the appropriate personal protective equipment necessary to protect UC researchers from laboratory hazards. Ken also launched a university‐wide initiative to send laboratory safety experts to all campuses in the UC system to assist with the development of Standard Operating Procedures for every experiment being conducted at UC in order to ensure safe research.
Ken has served the UC system for 24 years in the areas of Radiation Safety and Research Safety. Prior to joining UCOP, Ken served as a research safety manager at UC San Diego from 2006 to 2012 and as a radiation safety officer at UC Santa Cruz from 1994-2006.
Ken is an alumnus of UC Santa Cruz, where he received his degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Ken holds board certifications in Industrial Hygiene, Health Physics and Laser Safety. He is also a registered Radiation Protection Technologist.
