She received her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University at Buffalo where she researched social movement mobilization patterns in communities facing environmental hazards. Her research has involved ethnographic field methods and the use of frame analysis as both a research tool and mode of analysis in social movement research. Her primary research interests are community mobilization, grassroots networking and collaboration, environmental sociology, and social construction of risk. Currently, she is studying semiotics and the transformation of meaning in urban space surrounding the development of community gardens.