Her teaching and research interests include the American Presidency, American Foreign Policy, American Politics, and International Politics. She is the author of Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy (Texas A&M University Press, December 1998). An earlier version of the book received the first annual Best Dissertation on the Presidency Prize from the Center of Presidential Studies, Texas A&M University, in 1997. She graduated from Penn State in 1990 with a major in Foreign Service and International Politics, with a minor in English. She completed her graduate work in Politics at Princeton University.