She completed her PhD in Environmental Science, Policy & Management at UC Berkeley in 2012, and received an M.S. degree from the School of Natural Resource and Environment at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a B.S in Ecology from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine. Her previous research included applications of vegetation and landscape ecology; remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to study ecosystem properties and change in grasslands of Ukraine; transitioning forests of northern Michigan, USA; and large wetland biodiversity hotspots in PR China and California, USA.