She was previously an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies and an Assistant Professor at Ohio University. Her publications examine the politics of ethnicity in democracies with mixed ethnic or religious populations, which is the central topic of her recent book, Ethnic Struggle, Coexistence, and Democratization in Eastern Europe (Cambridge 2012). Her published work has appeared in a variety of journals, including Perspectives on Politics, Party Politics, and Nations and Nationalism, among others. She is also Associate Editor of the journal Problems of Post-Communism. She received her PhD from Columbia University in 2000, under the supervision of the late Dr. Charles Tilly, and her undergraduate degree from Amherst College.