In her research, she is interested in the identity development of engineering students, the role of emotion in student learning, and improving the culture for engineering students and faculty, especially those from underrepresented groups. She has methodological expertise in qualitative research methods with a focus on narrative research methods. She is interested in curricular design and has developed design spines for environmental and mechanical engineering programs, and recently helped design the engineering education systems and design PhD program at ASU. She teaches design courses, engineering science courses, and graduate courses focused on qualitative research methods.