She received a Ph.D. in anthropological sciences in 2003 from Stony Brook University, a masters in philosophy in biological anthropology from the University of Cambridge in 1994, and a bachelors in anthropology from Michigan State University in 1992. Her research focuses on the effects of environmental change upon vertebrate faunal dynamics and draws on comparative anatomy and functional morphology to explore how phylogeny and environment shape locomotor and feeding morphology. Her work in the Red Sandstone Group of Tanzania has revealed a novel Paleogene fossil assemblage that provides a snapshot of the African fauna prior to the Paleogene-Neogene transition. In recent years, Stevens has also conducted field research in the Cretaceous-early Cenozoic of Namibia, Nigeria, Yemen and Oman.