Her teaching and research are in the field of public relations. Dr. Shen received a Ph.D. in communication from University of Maryland in 2009. The primary goal of her research is to enhance theory building and measurement of public relations effectiveness, internationally. Her work ranges from an examination of the effects of culture on social responsibility strategies used by multinational corporations to a study of the crisis-response strategies used during the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. Dr. Shen has a professional background in media relations, marketing and journalism, both in the United States and in China. She also has helped facilitate public information campaigns and internal communication at the National Institutes of Health and currently serves as the statistical consultant for a multi-country project on the status of women in the news media.