She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 2012. Broadly speaking, her research focuses on the role of civic actors in shaping the future of cities. She recently completed her first book manuscript, Vulnerable Resilience: The Civic Challenges in Rebuilding New Orleans, which investigates how civic engagement shaped the contour of post-Katrina rebuilding process in New Orleans. Her next project, funded by the Gittell Collective, examines the divergent paths of climate adaptation in four coastal cities around the world: Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong and Miami. Besides book projects, her work has been published in journals including Urban Affairs Review and The American Review of Public Administration.