Her research interests include international relations, human rights and humanitarianism, and asylum and migration. She is currently completing a book manuscript that asks why countries open their borders to some refugees while blocking others, and why a number of countries have given the United Nations control of asylum procedures and refugee camps on their territory. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, and others. She holds a doctoral degree in politics from Princeton University.