Rick W. A. Smith

Assistant Professor

Genomics; Ancient DNA; Colonialism; Science and Technology Studies.

I am a biocultural anthropologist working at the intersections of genomics and Science and Technology Studies (STS). I completed my Ph.D. in 2017 at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the faculty at Mason, I completed a three year postdoctoral fellowship with the Neukom Institute for Computational Science and the Department of Anthropology at Dartmouth College. In addition to working within the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mason, I am affiliated with the Women and Gender Studies program and am the director of the Science and Society Research Hub within the Center for Social Science Research.

Selected Publications

Locker AJ, Chase DZ, Chase AF, Chase ASZ, Pederson Vallejos A, Cano G, Rodriguez R, To’one Masehualoon NGO, Badillo M, Baker LJ, Tung TT, Smith RWA. 2025. The Maya are a People of Movement: Reconstructing Shifts in Maya Mobility from Oxygen Isotopes across Three Millenia at Chactemal (Santa Rita Corozal), Northern Belize. AJBA.

Wutich A, Nelson R, DuBois LZ, Astorino CM, Knudson K, Reynolds AW, Riley EP, Smith RWA, Vansickle C, Russo Carroll S, Connors CK, Jankovic-Rankovic J, Mitchell CF, Roque AD, Tsosie KS. 2025. Rigorous and Systematic Qualitative Data Analysis in Biological Anthropology. Yearbook of Biological Anthropology.

Smith RWA, Nelson RG, Magpiong AR*, South SK*, Dervarics A, Plattner P, Coe Schweiger B, Reynolds AW. 2024. The plantation system and the roots of the southern rural mortality penalty in the northern Blackland Prairies of Texas. Health and Place. 88: 103234.

Balentine CM, Alfonso-Durruty M, Reynolds AW, Vilar M, Morello F, San Román M, Springs LC, Smith RWA, Archer SM*, Mata-Míguez J, Wing N, and Bolnick DA. 2023. Exploring population histories in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, Chile, using ancient mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA. AJBA. 180(1):144-161.

Smith RWA and Non A. 2022. Assessing the Achievements and Uncertain Future of Paleoepigenomics. Epigenomics.

Smith RWA. 2021. Imperial Terroir: Toward A Queer Molecular Ecology of Colonial Masculinities. Current Anthropology.

Tsosie KS, Bader A, Fox K, Bolnick DA, Garrison N, Smith RWA. 2021. Ancient DNA Researchers Write Their Own Rules. Nature 600(37).

Salas LA, Peres LC, Thayer ZM, Smith RWA, Guo Y, Chung W, Si J, Liang L. 2021. A Transdisciplinary Approach to Understand the Epigenetic Basis of Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities. Epigenomics.

Tsosie K, Yracheta J, Kolopenuk J, Smith RWA. 2020. Indigenous Data Sovereignties and Data Sharing in Biological Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 174(2):183-186.

Smith RWA, Springs L, Reynolds AW, Bolnick DA. 2020. Making Kin in a Postgenomic World: Indigenous Belonging after the Genome. In: Daniels: In and Beyond the Law. Nathalie Kermoal and Chris Andersen, eds. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.

Tung TA, Smith RWA, Creanza N, Monroe C, Bolnick DA, Kemp BM. 2020. Constrained Agency while Negotiating Spanish Colonialism: A Bioarchaeological, Isotopic, and Ancient DNA Study of the Vinchos Cave Mummies, Ayacucho, Peru. Bioarchaeology International.

Smith RWA and Bolnick DA. 2019. Situating Science: Doing Biological Anthropology as a View from Somewhere. In: Vital Topics Forum – How Academic Diversity is Transforming Scientific Knowledge in Biological Anthropology. American Anthropologist 121(2):465-467.

Smith RWA and Archer SM. 2019. Bisexual Science. In: Vital Topics Forum – How Academic Diversity is Transforming Scientific Knowledge in Biological Anthropology. American Anthropologist 121(2):491-492.

Bolnick DA, Smith RWA, Fuentes A (eds.). 2019. Vital Topics Forum – How Academic Diversity is Transforming Scientific Knowledge in Biological Anthropology. American Anthropologist 121(2):464.

Smith RWA. 2019. Fifty Years in the Fight for Indigenous Sovereignty: From Alcatraz Island to Elizabeth Warren (1969-2019). Anthropology News 60(2):3-5. [invited] [top 5 article of 2019]

Smith RWA, Monroe C, Bolnick DA. 2015. Detection of Cytosine Methylation in Ancient DNA from Five Native American Populations Using Bisulfite Sequencing. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0125344.

Courses Taught

ANTH 135: Introduction to Biological Anthropology.

ANTH 353: Anthropological Genomics.

ANTH 367: DNA, Identity, and Power.

ANTH 619: Disrupting Nature.

Education

2020. Postdoctoral Fellowship. Neukom Institute for Computational Science. Dartmouth College.

2017. Ph.D. Anthropology. University of Texas at Austin.

2013. M.A. Anthropology. University of Texas at Austin.

2004. B.S. Biology. Abilene Christian University.

In the Media

“Ancient-DNA Researchers Set Ethics Guidelines for Their Work", New York Times, 10/25/2021

“A racist scientist built a collection of human skulls. Should we still study them?", Science Magazine, 07/08/2021

“The 4 best at-home DNA test kits for genetics, health, and ancestry, according to geneticists and genealogists”, Business Insider, 11/03/2021

“The Biden administration will be hit with multiple crises from the get-go”, Business Insider, 11/17/2020

“What Did Denisovans Look Like? A New Epigenetics Approach May Give Us Some Clues”, Forbes Science, 09/22/2019

“Senator Warren takes the test” National Public Radio, NPR/KUOW Seattle, 10/15/2018

“Is Elizabeth Warren’s genetic test conclusive? It’s complicated”, Boston Globe, 10/15/2018