She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003. From 2001 to 2002, she was a research fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and from 2002 to 2008 an assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on the culture, behavior, and reform of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as issues of transparency and accountability in international development aid.