Stephen B. Smith

Dr. Stephen Smith is a Regents Professor and Senior Faculty Fellow in the Department of Animal Science and a member of the Faculty of Food Science and Technology and the Faculty of Nutrition.

He received his bachelor’s degree in biology at California State College, Bakersfield, and his doctorate in metabolic physiology from the University of California, Davis. Before joining the department, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Research Chemist at the USDA Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, Nebraska.

Dr. Smith teaches meat science, nutrition and physiological chemistry courses. He also conducts research on the metabolism, growth and development, and fatty acid composition of adipose tissue, particularly in the bovine species. He has investigated the limitation of cattle to marble and has used his background in molecular biology to investigate lipid metabolism in bovine muscle.

He has collaborated with scientists in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and China to document the effects of breed type and production conditions on the development and fatty acid composition of marbling adipose tissue. These collaborations have demonstrated that production practices that increase the amount of marbling in beef also increase the amount of the healthful fatty acid, oleic acid. Dr. Smith also has demonstrated that the consumption of high-oleic acid beef by men and women increases the blood concentration of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol).

Professional memberships include the American Society for Nutrition, the American Meat Science Association, and the American Society of Animal Science.