Maurice Smith
Maurice Smith is a lifelong resident of Kansas City who graduated from Ruskin High School in 1956. Upon graduation, he was awarded a 4-year Evans scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he earned a BS in Physical Chemistry in 1960. In late 1962, after 2 years of study at MIT, he began work at the KCP, NNSA’s nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City (http://www.kcp.com), (then known as Bendix, now as Honeywell). He worked at KCP for 43 years until retirement at the end of 2005. He retired as the KCP plant’s senior scientist–with job title “Staff Engineer in Science-based Design and Information Management”. Throughout his employment at KCP, he held a US Government “Q” (Top Secret) clearance, required because of his knowledge and work on nuclear weapons design and manufacturing. While employed at KCP, Maurice continued his education ( a 1973 MS in Chemistry at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC), and was granted 5 US unclassified patents related to his work on nuclear weapons and Homeland Security. His 2nd patent (in 1979) was recognized by the US government for achieving a $29,000,000 cost savings. For his 4th and 5th patents, the Kansas City, MO regional office of the FBI gave a medal to him and to the patent team he led. This award made him and his team members of the FBI’s Kansas/Missouri Bomb Technician Working Group. His 6 and final US patent is currently pending. While at KCP, he also served from 1983 through 1995 as the USA’s as Head of Delegation (HOD) to America’s scientific delegation to the United Nation’s SO/IEC/JTC1/SC21/WG3 ASN.1 Rapporteur group. This entailed travelling to numerous countries throughout the world. This international group worked to develop the initial scientific communication protocol standards that enabled the early NSFnet version of the Internet. Upon retirement in late 2005, Maurice was honored as the first employee in the Kansas City Plant’s 60 year history to receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award & Medal for Outstanding Services & Technical Achievements”.
In addition to now serving on the Advisory Board of Ruskin’s Academy of Engineering, Maurice was recently appointed by the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri to represent the community of Kansas City, Missouri on the US government’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP) to the Inter-Agency Environmental Leadership Council. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the home owners association where he lives (the Woodbridge Homes Association) and volunteers as a Kansas City Youth Friend, as a Science Pioneers Mentor, a Kansas City Science Fair judge, and as a member of the Kansas City, MO Public Library’s Community Technology Advisory Council (CTAC). Through his retirement volunteer activities, Maurice hopes to help our Kansas City community, and to motivate, educate & inform our children & and our citizens about to science, business & technology.
In addition to now serving on the Advisory Board of Ruskin’s Academy of Engineering, Maurice was recently appointed by the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri to represent the community of Kansas City, Missouri on the US government’s Community Advisory Panel (CAP) to the Inter-Agency Environmental Leadership Council. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the home owners association where he lives (the Woodbridge Homes Association) and volunteers as a Kansas City Youth Friend, as a Science Pioneers Mentor, a Kansas City Science Fair judge, and as a member of the Kansas City, MO Public Library’s Community Technology Advisory Council (CTAC). Through his retirement volunteer activities, Maurice hopes to help our Kansas City community, and to motivate, educate & inform our children & and our citizens about to science, business & technology.