Her main interest is figuring out how to help people connect science with their daily lives in and outside the classroom. She teaches Anatomy and Physiology, Animal Behavior and upper level physiology related courses. She is particularly interested in how the structure of a course affects student learning and engagement. Her research focuses on social insect behavioral physiology and genomics, with some dabbling in pollination biology. She did her Ph.D. at Tufts University on the energetic costs of paper wasp behavior.