She earned a bachelor's degree at Catholic University of Pernambuco while growing up in Brazil. She completed her master's degree in cognitive development at Federal University of Pernambuco and obtained a doctoral degree in developmental psychology from Cornell University. She has used service-learning mostly in undergraduate research courses or outcome evaluations programs. In June 2003 she received a Campus Compact grant to identify the effect of service-learning experience on alumni employment choices in community engagement. She has also participated in several conferences discussing service-learning issues in general and the ethics of service-learning in particular.