She received a BA in chemistry from The College of Wooster (Wooster, OH), an MPA and MSES from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana), and a PhD in Environment from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina). She has studied river basin management processes and local-level adaptation to extreme climatic events. Albright received both a Fulbright Scholarship and a grant from the National Science Foundation to support her research. She recently was awarded Best Paper by an Emerging Scholar Award at the 2010 Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference. Prior to earning her doctorate, Albright worked as a water quality modeler developing water restoration management plans and stakeholder outreach programs for the state of North Carolina.