Her research focuses on poverty, spatial inequality, legal regulation, housing, and the built environment, with a special interest in both forced and voluntary residential mobility. Her research uses both ethnographic methods and geospatial (GIS) analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in English from The University of Chicago. Her work is published in Sociological Inquiry, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Law & Social Inquiry, Urban Studies, The Chicago-Kent Law Review, City & Community, and American Sociological Review.