She received her PhD in Computer Science from George Mason University and earned her MS degree at GMU as well. She received her BS in computer science from University of Mary Washington. In addition, she has a Graduate Certificate in Biometrics from the Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University (2010). While a graduate student at George Mason University, she had extensive teaching experience both as a Graduate Teaching assistant to a number of graduate level courses there, and as an Adjunct faculty member teaching a number of undergraduate courses at University of Mary Washington. She was also selected to be a Research Fellow in the summer of 2001 at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.