She received her doctorate in History from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1998 and has published a book and articles on gender, patriarchy, and the law in nineteenth century California and an essay on the contemporary relationship between Chicana Studies and Women’s Studies. Her current research interests and publications focus on youth, juvenile justice, race, and science in early twentieth-century California reform schools. Currently, she teaches courses on Chicana/o history, Latina/o history, race and juvenile justice, U.S.-Mexico border relations, and research methodologies and is at work on a book on youth, race, and science in the juvenile justice system in California, 1850 to 1940.