She earned her B.S. in materials science and engineering in 1986 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her M.S. in 1988 from the University of California, and her Ph.D. in 1992 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After serving as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute, she joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Washington. She has authored or coauthored 19 publications and presented 12 invited and 14 contributed talks at conferences and research institutes. She is also active in engineering education reform. She has been named National Young Investigator from 1994-1999 by the National Science Foundation and has been a Humboldt Fellow and Fulbright Scholar.