Previously, she was a postdoctoral research fellow with the Earth Institute. Her current research assess the sustainability of food production systems by examining their effects on interactions among plants, soils, carbon, nutrient, and water cycles. Her research at Columbia took her to Kenya and Tanzania where she studied the effects of increased fertilizer application in smallholder farming systems. While most research has focused on improving yields, environmental impacts of such additions in depleted African soils are largely unknown. Her research is producing some of the first data on environmental impacts necessary for developing sustainable agriculture strategies in this understudied region of the world.