biology

Lisa Matisoo-Smith

Lisa Matisoo-Smith is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lisa Matisoo-Smith rather than just read about it. In short: Elizabeth Anne Matisoo-Smith (born 1963) is a molecular anthropologist and Professor at the University of Otago. As at 2018, she is Head of the Department of Anatomy.

Key takeaways

Lisa Matisoo-Smith belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lisa Matisoo-Smith to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lisa Matisoo-Smith from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Elizabeth Anne Matisoo-Smith (born 1963) is a molecular anthropologist and Professor at the University of Otago. As at 2018, she is Head of the Department of Anatomy.

Biography Matisoo-Smith was born in Hawai‘i in 1963. Her father Andres Matisoo was born in Estonia. He moved with his family to the United States, where he later met Lisa's American mother Julie. Matisoo-Smith also lived in Japan and California, following her father's naval postings. She is married to New Zealander Brent Smith. She completed her doctoral thesis No hea te kiore : MtDNA variation in Rattus exulans : a model for human colonisation and contact in prehistoric Polynesia at the University of Auckland in 1996. Matisoo-Smith's research focuses on using DNA to map human migration, especially in the Pacific. She is a principal investigator on National Geographic's Genographic project. As part of that project, she is the lead researcher for From Africa to Aotearoa, which is looking specifically at human migration to New Zealand. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2017, Matisoo-Smith was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand. In 2018, she was awarded the society's Mason Durie Medal for social science, recognising her research into Polynesian migration across the Pacific. In 2022 she was appointed a distinguished professor at the University of Otago.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lisa Matisoo-Smith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lisa Matisoo-Smith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lisa Matisoo-Smith before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lisa Matisoo-Smith ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lisa Matisoo-Smith

In research: Lisa Matisoo-Smith appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lisa Matisoo-Smith in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lisa Matisoo-Smith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1963 births, Academic staff of the University of Otago, American emigrants to New Zealand, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lisa Matisoo-Smith outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lisa Matisoo-Smith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lisa Matisoo-Smith means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lisa Matisoo-Smith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lisa Matisoo-Smith in simple terms?

Elizabeth Anne Matisoo-Smith (born 1963) is a molecular anthropologist and Professor at the University of Otago. As at 2018, she is Head of the Department of Anatomy.

Why does Lisa Matisoo-Smith matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lisa Matisoo-Smith?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lisa Matisoo-Smith.