She received her PhD from Department of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Her advisor was Professor Dr. Andre van der Hoek. She then completed a two year post doc at Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science with Dr. James Herbsleb. Her research interests lie primarily in the intersection of software engineering and computer-supported cooperative work, focusing on understanding and supporting coordination as an interplay of people and technology. Her research is driven by a strong desire to offer practical solutions to real-world problems through the construction of novel software tools and environments.