Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D., was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for his groundbreaking work in experimental economics. Dr. Smith has joint appointments with the Argyros School of Business and Economics and the Fowler School of Law, and he helped create the new Economic Science Institute at Chapman University. 

Dr. Smith has authored or coauthored more than 350 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics and experimental economics. He has served on numerous editorial and editorial advisory boards and as president of several national economic associations. Previous faculty appointments include the University of Arizona, Purdue University, Brown University, the University of Massachusetts, and George Mason University.

Dr. Smith is a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Science, and the 1995 Adam Smith Award recipient conferred by the Association for Private Enterprise Education. He has received distinguished alumni awards and honorary degrees from Purdue University and the University of Kansas. He has served as a consultant on the liberalization of electric power in Australia and New Zealand, and has participated in numerous private and public discussions of energy privatization and liberalization in the United States and around the world.