Chris Smith is a pen name for this author who was born on June 8, 1979 in Warrenton,
Virginia. Being from Northern Virginia, Chris Smith enjoyed having a suburban to rural lifestyle
at his home that was not a farm but had a pond, three acres, and many pets ranging from dogs,
cats, ducks, chickens, goats, and even cattle. On top of pets, he was the eldest of three brothers
with a mom and dad in a very close-knit family that supported each other immensely to this day.
Chris Smith had a childhood full of extracurricular activities from sports, like soccer, football (he
was a varsity starter on the offensive line for multiple years), basketball, baseball, and swimming
to other activities like Boy Scouts (he was an Eagle Scout), 4-H, volunteering, and mentoring.
He always felt as if it was important to be a role model and “trailblazer” for his brothers and
community, and feels it is his part to give back each day. Due to his family’s involvement, Chris
Smith excelled at school and was in accelerated classes like gateways, pathways and advanced
placement classes, and was in the top ten percent of his graduating class. After a brief stint at the
Air Force Academy, he came back to Mary Washington College (MWC), now a university, in
Fredericksburg, Virginia, and earned his Bachelors of Science in Physics while he held on to
three jobs, including a lucrative internship at Lockheed Martin in Dahlgren, Virginia working on
the cell missile system and five inch deck gun software for the Navy. After he got his Bachelors,
he got his Masters of Science in Engineering Physics from the University of Virginia (UVA) in
Charlottesville, Virginia doing Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) and Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser
Evaporation (MAPLE) of all materials, but with an emphasis on polymers for nanoscale coating
for controlled drug delivery particles into the lungs. After he got his masters, he got a job at
Powdermet, Inc. in Euclid, Ohio doing materials research where he was very successful at
bringing in, upgrading and executing Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants with the
United States government and military for many different applications with a specialty in
energetic materials utilizing various materials processing techniques including Chemical Vapor
Deposition (CVD), spray drying, injection molding, and extruding. Seeing a possible PhD
opportunity at the University of Connecticut (UCONN), Chris Smith went to UCONN and
worked in a special lab funded by Pratt and Whitney to develop engine materials utilizing CVD,
polymers and sol-gel techniques. After developing many different new sciences in the fields of
Oxide and Non-Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) and finishing all his class work, a
mental illness-related situation stopped Chris Smith from getting his PhD. This mental illnessrelated situation made Chris Smith go to Whiting Forensic Hospital (WFH) and be placed under
the Psychiatric Security and Review Board (PSRB). This was a very difficult and tumultuous
part of Chris Smith’s life, but he persevered and got out of WFH, yet he is still under the PSRB.
During his time under the PSRB, while he was at WFH, and due to his free time caused by
COVID-19, Chris Smith started to write books including poetry books about themes, thoughts
and feeling in his life, and a book about life at WFH from the point of view of the patient, which
is a rarity in the field of mental health and Chris Smith could have used to learn the “ins and
outs” of a mental hospital if such book had been around back then. Currently, Chris Smith
published his first poetry book, Poetry From Behind Mental Walls, is trying to publish the
patient-oriented WFH book, A Patient’s Narrative, and is finishing a second poetry book, Poetry
From Behind Mental Walls Volume II. As always, Chris Smith wants to thank all of his readers
for showing interest and reading his books.