Dr. Smith received a BA in Anthropology from the State University of New York at New Paltz and her MA and PhD in Biological Anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany. Her research seeks to understand anatomical relationships between form and function from a mechanical perspective and her primary areas of expertise include craniofacial biomechanics and dietary adaptation in fossil and living primates, including humans.
Her work integrates advanced 3D medical imaging with information about bone material properties, muscle architecture, experimental bone strain, and morphometrics using finite element analysis (an engineering technique) to study how variation in the shape of the skull, teeth, and jaw affects feeding function. She uses this set of techniques to answer evolutionary and clinical questions.
Before joining the PNWU faculty, Dr. Smith completed Postdoctoral Fellowships at Washington University in St Louis and the University of Chicago, where she taught The Human Body course at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Her teaching experience includes Gross Anatomy, Anatomy and Physiology and Human Paleobiology.