She received her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in 1996 and master's degree from University of California, Davis in 1989. She worked as an economist at the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture between her masters and Ph.D. programs. With co-authors, she has published papers on exotic pests, on spatial transmission of plant diseases, cooperation versus regulation with respect to exotic pests, and the implications of different allocation strategies for spatially regulated chemicals. She is currently on sabbatical at ERS working on land values.