She received her BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her PhD in Bioengineering from Rice University. She has taught Chemical Reaction Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering as core chemical engineering undergraduate courses as well as an elective in tissue engineering for both chemical and biomedical engineering undergraduate and graduate students. She has attended the ASEE Chemical Engineering Summer School and was an active participant in the VaNTH Third Biomedical Education Summit.