Smith was awarded a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1983 for her dissertation, Dental Attrition in Hunter-Gatherers and Agriculturalists.
Starting in March 2018, Smith started as a research professor in the Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.[2] In June 2019, Smith became a visiting research professor at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology.
[2] In March 1992, Smith provided the expert opinion for the Office of the Siskiyou County Public Defender in California.
She evaluated the dental development of an accused immigrant to determine whether that individual was a juvenile or an adult at the time of the crime, which was a death penalty offense.
[2] The majority of Smith's work has either been in expeditions to sites or research in museums in countries in Northern Europe and Eastern Africa.
Her research into dental development made major contributions to the scientific understanding of the maturation of early hominids and the evolution of human life history.
Though a lot about this transition remains unknown, Smith emphasizes that new comparative methods of study will hopefully reveal further insights.
[8] She is currently researching the differences in life history between primates and other mammals, with a particular focus on birth, infancy, weaning, tooth eruption, and the transition to independent feeding.