Sally K. Sommers Smith is recently retired as Associate Professor of Natural Science at Boston University and Lecturer in Biology at Wellesley College. She holds a doctorate in human anatomy and cellular biology from Tufts University School of Medicine, and completed a postdoctorate at Harvard Medical School. She also has been a Visiting Researcher in Traditional Music at the University of Limerick. A fiddler in the Irish and Cape Breton traditions, she has published widely on adaptation and evolution in traditional music, particularly in migrant traditions. She is currently at work on a book on traditional music transmission at summer music camps.