Ashley Smith

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Ashley Smith attended the University of Memphis starting in January of 2008 and  obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology with a minor in English in May of 2010. After graduation she moved to Boston where she began her graduate work in forensic anthropology and osteology at Boston University School of Medicine. While there she completed a thesis on the effects of sharp-force trauma on decomposition.  She graduated in in 2012 and then took a couple of years off working and interning at various institutions including the Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee; gaining knowledge in human anatomy and practical forensic anthropology.  She has curated a number of skeletal collections including the one at RFC-Knoxville and the fetal osteological collection at Boston University. In 2014 she began her PhD work at the University of Toronto, focusing on evolutionary and forensic anthropology.  She is currently a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Canadian Association of Physical Anthropology, and the American Anthropological Association, and is a student-member of the American Association of Physical Anthropology. Ashley has been called out on a number of cases including leading a team of graduate students to assist with the Reuniting Families project at Baylor University as well as leading teams on forensic archaeological projects here in Ontario. She has presented numerous talks on the use of laser scanning confocal microscopy and histology of bone, and has been published three times in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Science International on the topics of trauma and decomposition and osteometrics.