She is currently a Preceptor in Music at Harvard University. Dr. Pukinskis earned her PhD in Music Composition in 2016 from the University of Chicago. She has had works premiered by eighth blackbird, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Akron Symphony Chorus, and the Spektral Quartet, as well as by members of the San Antonio Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Dr. Pukinskis’s scholarly research revolves around notions of nationalism and cultural identity, diaspora, traditional folk and choral music, and the twentieth-century histories of Latvia and the Baltic nations.