She received received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Texas A&M University in 2013, and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Psychology from Winthrop University, of Rock Hill, SC in 2008. She was also a participant in the 2008 Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University. Her research interests focus on the areas of public policy, representation, public management, race and ethnic politics, and education policy. Currently she is working projects that combines theories of bureaucratic representation, public management, and structure to understand policy implementation decisions, policy outputs, and outcomes.