Grubiak completed her PhD and MA in architectural history at the University of Virginia, and she specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American architecture. Her research explores the intersection of architecture, higher education, and religion. Her publications include articles on Yale's Neo-Gothic Sterling Memorial Library as an alternative religious architecture on campus; the real intention of the University of Notre Dame's "Touchdown Jesus" mural; and the Danforth Chapel program on public universities across the United States. Her forthcoming book White Elephants on Campus: The Decline of the University Chapel in America, 1920–1960 (University of Notre Dame Press, 2014), is an interdisciplinary examination of the changing role of religion in higher education through the architecture and planning of the American campus.