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About Abby
Professor Abby Smith is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Marine Science at the University of Otago. She earned a BA in Geology and Biology from Colby College, an SM in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a DPhil in Earth Sciences from the University of Waikato. Smith began her career at Otago in 1993 as a part-time temporary lecturer, advancing to full Professor in 2016 and serving as Head of Department for four years before her retirement. Her research centers on bryozoans as primary carbonate sediment producers in Southern Hemisphere shelves, geochemical signals in skeletal carbonates revealing age, growth, and environmental conditions, processes governing temperate carbonate sediments from coastal to shelf environments, and the effects of ocean acidification on calcification and sediment budgets in cool temperate settings. She has led national research initiatives, chaired the New Zealand Ocean Acidification Community, and contributed to the establishment of marine reserves including the Papanui Marine Reserve to protect bryozoan meadows.
Smith's influential work includes investigations into the taxonomy, systematics, ecology, growth, production, and geochemistry of New Zealand bryozoans, as well as carbonate dynamics in regions like Otago Peninsula, Foveaux Strait, and Doubtful Sound. Key publications encompass 'Quantifying growth rates using growth checks in colonial organisms: A case study on erect bryozoans from the Southern Ocean' (Marine Ecology, 2025, co-authored with Key et al.), 'A genome-skimming phylogeny of ctenostome bryozoans' (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2025, co-authored with Waeschenbach et al.), and 'Detailed controls on biomineralization in an adult echinoderm: Skeletal carbonate mineralogy of the New Zealand sand dollar (Fellaster zelandiae)' (Biogeochemistry, 2025, co-authored with Dixon-Anderson). She has received the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society Lifetime Achievement Award (2024), the Ellis Medal from the International Bryozoology Association, and the Miriam Dell Award for Mentoring of Women in Science (2019). As Treasurer of the International Bryozoology Association, she has advanced the field through international collaboration, student supervision, and public outreach including co-authoring a biodiversity column in the Otago Daily Times.
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