She earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University in 2008. Her published research focuses on the development and consequences of adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, including alcohol use, drug use, and risky sexual behaviors. Her interests include motivation and decision-making, the prevention of health risk behaviors, statistical methods for modeling behavior and behavior change, and web-based survey methodology. Her current projects focus on high-intensity drinking, dynamic associations between substance use and consequences, and predictors and consequences of simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use.