She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. She is a research affiliate with the Institute of Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research has focused on studying the impact of globalization on economic growth and income inequality and measurement of poverty and multidimensional deprivation. She was awarded the Nancy and Richard Ruggles Prize by the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth in 2012. The award is given for the best research paper by a young scholar under the age of 35. Her work has been published in leading economics journals. In addition to her research, she enjoys teaching and is the recipient of multiple teaching awards at Georgia Tech. She has been selected in the inaugural cohort of the Provost Teaching Learning Fellows Program.