She received her B.A. from the University of Arizona and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. Before coming to UCF, she taught at Southern Methodist University, Yale University and the University of Virginia. Her interests include the complex interplay between technology, power, economic systems, social action and culture change in the past and present. She primarily carries out her research in Guatemala, but she has also worked in Mexico, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky and the U.S. Virgin Islands.