She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has a B.A. in Sociology and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Georgia where she graduated Cum Laude. Her specialties lie in the sociological areas of gender, human-animal studies, social psychology, and qualitative methodology. She is a former fellow of the Animals & Society Institute's Human-Animal Studies Fellowship. Dr. Vermilya was one of the recipients of The Best Should Teach Silver Award from the Graduate Teacher Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.