MONICA L. SMITH is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds the Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian Studies as well as serving as the director of the South Asian Archaeology Laboratory in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. Her archaeological expertise includes fieldwork in Egypt, England, India, Italy, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Madagascar, supported by highly competitive research grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Geographic Society.
She currently serves on the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society and as an academic trustee of the Archaeological Institute of America. Smith’s research has been highlighted on National Geographic Radio and featured in newspaper and television outlets in South Asia (including front-page coverage in The Times of India for work at the ancient city of Sisupalgarh). She has held visiting research affiliations with the Bard Graduate Center in New York and the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. Honors in public outreach include the Y.D. Sharma Memorial Lecture of the Indian Archaeological Society, the inaugural Damodar SarDesai Memorial Lecture, and a three-time selection for the National Lecture Program of the Archaeological Institute of America.
She is the author of Cities: The First 6,000 Years.
