She has a PhD in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research is primarily about the socio-cultural transitions that have accompanied economic liberalization in India. Her dissertation examined non-elite private English schooling as a socio-political expression of aspiration in a new consumer society. This project was awarded an AIIS (American Institute of Indian Studies) Junior Fellowship Award and an NAEd/Spencer (National Academy of Education) Dissertation Fellowship Award. Her work has been published in Anthropology and Education Quarterly and TESOL Quarterly.