Stacey Smith?
Stacey R. Smith? is an Australian-Canadian mathematician known for scholarly research work on the modeling of infectious outbreaks, particularly including the analysis of outbreaks of zombies and Bieber Fever. She has also published scholarly books on science fiction.
Life and career
Smith? received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Macquarie University in 1994. After graduation, she went to McMaster University, where she received a master's degree in 1996 and a Ph.D. in 2001. Her doctoral thesis investigated the technique of self-cycling fermentation; her Ph.D. advisor was Gail Wolkowicz.After finishing her doctorate, Smith? worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Western Ontario, where she became involved with the mathematical study of disease. Smith? did further postdoctoral research at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
In 2009, Smith? published the first academic article mathematically modeling a zombie outbreak, which brought Smith? to the attention of international media, including a Guinness World Record for being the first mathematician to create such a model. Smith? received further attention in media in 2012 for publishing a mathematical model of "Bieber Fever", together with her student, Valerie Tweedle. In 2019, she was awarded the Society for Mathematical Biology's Distinguished Service Award, and then elected a fellow of the Society in 2025.
As of December 2025, Smith? is a professor of mathematics and statistics at the University of Ottawa.
She has also written a Doctor Who short story punished in the "Short Trips: History of Christmas" collection, as well as several doctor who reference books.