She was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University and has also taught at Duke University. She earned her B.S. in mathematics at Bowling Green State University, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She earned an M.S. in physics and astronomy from Northwestern University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics from Duke. Her research interests include computational geometry, computational topology, and robotic manipulation and motion planning.