She received her Ph.D. from Penn State University in 2010 and was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Michigan from 2010-2012. Her research explores political behavior, public opinion, state and local politics, and health policy, widely defined (her subfields include youth voter turnout, dynamic state public opinion, policy diffusion, state agenda setting, dynamic policy responsiveness, and anti-smoking legislation). She has published in journal outlets such as The Journal of Politics, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Political Behavior. She is currently working on a project (funded by the Russell Sage Foundation) on ACA attitudes across the American states.