She received her B.S. in physics from the University of Kentucky, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Maryland College Park. While working on her Ph.D., she was a science associate on NASA’s Deep Impact mission to comet Tempel 1 in 2005. After a short stint at the University of Texas, she joined the faculty at MSU in 2007, where she conducts research in cometary science and teaches a variety of courses in physics and astronomy.