Adrian Smith has many titles: data scientist, professor, industrial technician (or engineer), farmer. Our favorite is citizen scientist. Since joining GLOBE in 2017, Adrian has contributed more than 15,000 observations from his home in Brazil.  

The motivation to participate in GLOBE runs deep. “I always want to be up to date on scientific matters about the Earth,” he says. “Inside me, there was always a question about how I could understand and help the environment.” That meant that collecting environmental data with GLOBE appealed to Adrian, but just as appealing was the idea of his observations becoming part of a global database of environmental observations that record change over time. 

“I have been collecting data daily since 23 September 2017, on relative humidity, air temperature, barometric pressure, ground temperature and cloud cover.” He’d like to add carbon dioxide, methane, nitrates, and air quality data to his daily record, if given a protocol. 

As reflected in his impressive data record, Adrian has rare focus. “I have autism (Aspeger's) with a hyper focus on discovering how things work.” The first thing he learned with GLOBE? “The scientific methodology, which is easy to understand and adapt to any user,” he says. 

Adrian also has a degree in data science and additional training certifications in electricity, electronics, hydraulics, pneumatics and industrial automation, and programming languages. That training led to a 10-year career in the thermoplastic transformation industry, after which he became a professor at Ceará State Government Institute of Technology (Centec). He currently manages his own farm. 

“I like to travel around Brazil to collect seeds and plant species because I love storing and growing seeds and plants on my property. I really enjoy observing and understanding the perfect interaction of the Earth system. I really enjoy long walks in nature or cycling.”

For those interested in joining GLOBE to contribute 15 observations or 15 thousand, Adrian offers this advice: “Your scientific journey to GLOBE is about to begin...the sky doesn't have to be the limit...you can go further!”