Fisher Science & Academic Center
Research Interests: Subsurface microbiology, astrobiology, early metabolisms, oceanography, geobiology
Teaching Interests: Astrobiology, microbiology, cell and molecular biology
PhD. in Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, 2017
M.S. in Biology, Portland State University, 2011
Dr. Smith was a Postdoctoral Investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution studying astrobiology and hydrothermal vent microbiology with Dr. Julie Huber, and was most recently a Research Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory studying microbial food webs in coastal zones. Dr. Smith's main focus is understanding how life emerged on Earth and whether life could exist on other worlds in our solar system. She uses state of the art techniques to understand how microbes live in the deep subsurface and beneath the seafloor. Amy has worked closely with researchers from NASA and other institutions to understand how to search for life elsewhere. She started teaching at Simon's Rock in 2021.