Her research focuses on international relations, including the causes, dynamics, and resolution of civil wars; the role of international institutions and law in international relations; and criminal accountability for wartime violence and terrorism. Previously Stanton was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania. She has held fellowships at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, and the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics at the University of Pennsylvania. Stanton received her Ph.D. in political science with distinction from Columbia University and her BA in international relations with distinction from Stanford University.