Her research focuses on elucidating structure-mechanical-property relationships in materials, namely the effect of microstructure on large deformation, damage accumulation and fracture, toward the exploitation of current materials and the design of new materials. Her group performs unique multiaxial mechanical characterization of materials, develops physics-based models to describe the micromechanics of these materials, and performs computational simulations to describe and predict their mechanical behavior. She received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State University, her master's degree and doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT and was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University prior to joining Penn State in 2013.