After pursuing her undergraduate education at the University of Bonn in Germany, and at Fudan University, Shanghai, she received her PhD in Chinese Business History from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her research focuses on the managerial, legal, and financial evolution of business institutions in China from the late Imperial period to the present (see for example, From Cotton Mill to Business Enterprises: The Emergence of Regional Enterprises in Modern China, 2003). Prof. Koll's current research addresses the emergence of railroad infrastructure in China and how technology transfer and railroad companies have contributed to China's economic and political development as a modern nation-state.