Prior to her appointment at IUPUI, she was an assistant professor in the department of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago. She conducts research in two areas of environmental science: paleoclimatology (the study of past climate change) and the impact of food production on the environment. In 2006, she coauthored a study that looked at the importance of different dietary choices on per-capita greenhouse gas emissions. In the course of the study, she realized there was a gap in the data available to quantify the environmental, social, and economic impacts of sustainable, regional-based agriculture.