She received her Doctorate in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley; Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design; and Bachelor of Art from Smith College. Recipient of several awards and grants, including a Graham Foundation Grant, Bancroft Fellowship, the James and Sylvia Thayer Research Fellowship, her research examines the architecture and planning of the mid-twentieth century. Guided by questions about class, race, and aesthetics, her work looks to social environments on college campuses, suburban typologies, and regional planning efforts, to understand intersections between modernism and society.