She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her B.A. in Mathematics from Colorado College. Her research in commutative algebra has appeared in top journals in the field, and she codes for Macaulay 2, an open-source algebra software package. She has also served as a mentor for mathematics teachers through the NebraskaMATH program, middle school students through Project Fulcrum, and recent mathematics graduates through the Nebraska IMMERSE program. Courtney also wrote the internationally famous Brown Sharpie math web comic.