Adam Thomas Smith is a Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Anthropology at Cornell University.
He is a co-director (with Lori Khatchadourian and Ian Lindsay) of Caucasus Heritage Watch, a research group monitoring cultural heritage in the South Caucasus in the wake of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
In 2021, Smith and Khatchadourian joined with Gerard Aching to launch a community excavation program at the St. James AME Zion Church in Ithaca, NY, the oldest active AME Zion church in the world.
Smith's research is dedicated to the archaeology and anthropology of the South Caucasus, particularly the area of modern Armenia, where most of his work has been focused.
His work investigates "the role that the material world-everyday objects, representational media, natural and built landscapes-plays in our political lives".