She earned her Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University, and has been a member of SPSP since 1998. Her research generally lies at the intersection between nonverbal communication and relationship science. She is primarily interested in the ways in which nonverbal behaviors (such as vocal cues, laughter, mimicry) function to create and maintain relational bonds. She recently conducted studies on the situational variability of vocal gaydar accuracy, the interplay between female laughter and male humor on perceptions of mating success, and the nonverbal consequences of social ostracism. One of her secondary lines of research explores the functions of gossip.